The Tale of Jorec Merridon
by Whiskers10
Summary: A young Jedi Padawan's journey through life, and the destruction of the Jedi Order... A mostly original character piece. Three chapters have been added 201.
1. Introduction

Introduction 

I haven't seen many of these on the Star Wars listings, so I guess I better introduce this. We have all heard of Original Character fanfics, but I think this kind takes the cake. The star of this fanfic, Jorec Merridon, was formed on May 15th as a member of an online game using the Star Wars d20 system. So far, he's probably my favorite character that I have played using the d20 system.

All this fic will be is the backstory to the character fully fleshed out. It spans 23 years from shortly after the events of Episode I to nine years before Episode IV. What happens after that is up to the roll of the dice.

Enjoy!


	2. Chapter I: Discovery 31 BBY

Chapter 1: Discovery

(31 BBY)

The infant gazed as the outside world passed by his bedroom window. He slowly turned his head, watching the many aircars that flew past his window. He looked in awe as his parents slowly walked into the room. The child sensed from both his mind and the expression on their faces that they were filled with both sorrow and worry.

It had all started four months ago, when his parents started noticing how strange things began happening around their baby boy. His playthings frequently moved towards the child when he wanted them, and several common household items were broken despite no logical reason why they could have fallen.

A slight chime from the door alerted the parents to the person they had sent for. They had heard several times on the HoloNet that these behaviors in a child were a strong indicator of being Force-sensitive and that parents of such children should contact the Jedi Order. The father opened the door to reveal a robed green figure, her brown hair wore in a simple ponytail behind her head. Her small body sat in a hoverchair, and the hum of it's repulsor engines filled the room with it's slight sound.

"You must be the representative of the Jedi? Come on in, can I offer you anything Ms…?"

"Yaddle. No refreshment is required, but for offering thank you. About your child you notified us?"

"Yes. He has been exhibiting some abnormal behavior. No offense."

"None taken. Strange one's power is to those not sensitive to the Force. Take me to him will you?"

"He's in his playpen in the other room. Follow me."

The father led the Jedi into the main room of the house, the slight hum of the hoverchair intensifying as it moved forward. The child gazed at the floating alien with both eyes filled with wonder. Yaddle slowly looked upon the child, her eyes studying the child's reactions to her. She slowly nodded and moved to a table near the child's playpen. She removed a small case from the back of her hoverchair and sat it on the table. She opened the case and removed a small object. She turned to the parents.

"To properly test the child, a small blood sample I will have to take."

"Go ahead."

Yaddle nodded in acknowledgement and soon produced a small needle from the object. She sat her hoverchair down and began to walk towards the child.

"From the playpen, please remove him. What is the child's name?"

The mother took her child and sat him on the floor. The child slowly began to walk around, moving closer to the new person to room. The mother smiled as her son began walking towards the alien standing next to him.

"Jorec, his name is Jorec."

"Well, Jorec, no need to be afraid. Sting only a little while this will."

Yaddle quickly stuck the child with the needle and sat the needle inside of the case. She slowly studied the case as it analyzed the blood sample. After a few seconds, the case beeped, indicating that the analysis of the sample was complete. She slightly nodded at the results and turned to the parents.

"Higher than normal his midichlorian count is. In the right range to be trained as a Jedi it is. That and the recordings you sent us. Important decision you two must make. Discuss it we must."

Jorec's mother placed the child back into the playpen and started walking towards the living room with her husband and the Jedi visitor. Yaddle sat in a chair while the two parents sat on the couch next to the window.

"Hard the decision is to send one's child away. Seen it many times, I have. Seen I have many refusals. Any concerns you have?"

Jorec's father looked up at the Jedi and nodded his head.

"I have heard that once he goes into the Order, we would be unable to see him again."

"Many times from concerned parents I have heard that. Truth of the matter is that once a certain age the student reaches, most teachers allow a decision to be made. Typical a visit to the family is and then by the student a choice is made."

"How often does a student typically choose to return to his family?"

"A small percentage."

"What would happen if we decide to not send him away? How could we deal with his powers in order to have peace around here?"

"If decide you do to not send him, literature we could provide. To properly discourage using his powers it will help you. Put their powers off as childhood fantasy, most children do."

Yaddle looked at the parents and then closed her eyes. She quietly gauged their emotions and the direction of their questions.

"Seem unwilling to send him to training you do."

"It's not that. We feel that he was given these powers for a reason, and we want him to be able to be properly trained to use those powers."

"But still apprehensive about the lifestyle you are?"

"Yes. We are."

"Time you still have to make your decision. Over the next few weeks, about your final decision talk about. Contact us when you reach it."

With a small push, the Jedi removed herself from the chair and entered her hoverchair. She activated it and floated to eye level with the parents.

"All I can say is, the best decision for the child, you should make. Farewell."

With a movement of her hand, the Jedi opened the door and exited into the hallway of the apartment complex.


	3. Chapter II: Training and Reactions

**Chapter II: Training and Reactions (22-19 BBY)**

The quiet of the Jedi Temple's halls was broken only by the footsteps of the few that remained inside it. The galaxy seemed on the edge of war again, what with the Separatists seceding from the Republic in the past few months, and the assassination attempt of a senator a few days ago.

Now the Temple was almost empty, the result of a rescue mission to Geonosis where Master Kenobi, his Padawan, and that same senator were being held prisoner. Ten year old Jorec Merridon chuckled quietly while walking through the hallways.

_I've heard about those two. Always getting into trouble. But why did the senior Jedi send almost all Jedi in the Temple to the planet on a simple rescue mission?_

Jorec rounded the corner of the hall and entered a large training room. Already he could hear the crackling of lightsabers meeting. He turned to the source of the sound and watched as two young humans; a ten-year-old male with dark blonde hair and blue eyes and an older female with brown hair fought desperately against the dual-wielding Serra Keto.

The seventeen-year-old Serra moved gracefully as her two attackers attempted to lure her into providing a vital opening for their sabers. The boy quickly swung his saber upwards towards Serra's head and then dropped to the floor as her defending saber quickly reached out and deflected the attacking blade. The younger girl made her move towards her opponent and swung her green blade towards Serra's midsection. The strike swung harmlessly over Serra's body as the boy swept the older girl's legs out from under her.

A voice quickly rose up from the hum and crackling of lightsabers.

"Whie, I told you only 'sabers and the Force this fight. I want all younglings to wait a while before throwing in martial arts into their combat. Why do I say that?"

The boy looked at Master Cin Drallig, his head low in shame.

"Because you say, 'To properly fight with a lightsaber, one must look to the saber first. Once proficient in its use, other tactics can be learned.' You said not to use martial arts yet because we haven't had a full experience of learning the basics of lightsaber to lightsaber combat."

"Correct. Take a rest. Jorec, you face off against Zett next."

Jorec walked towards a display of training lightsabers and selected one he had used regularly in the past. He took Bene's place on a training mat and faced his opponent. Jorec held the 'saber in a basic combat stance and thumbed the blue blade to life. His opponent did the same and the two began circling each other. Neither one wanted to strike first and potentially give the advantage to his opponent. After a few seconds of circling, Jorec made the first move by making a quick swing towards Zett's lightsaber. The slightly older Zett quickly took a step backwards and swung his lightsaber toward Jorec's leading arm. A quick parry by Jorec halted Zett's chance of ending the fight early.

"Nice move, Zett. Jorec, attack the opponent not his 'saber."

Jorec held his lightsaber near the center of his body, with the point facing his opponent. A slight movement of his wrist sent the blade towards Zett, who moved to swat it away. Jorec then quickly reversed his thrust and sent a swing towards the right side of his opponent. Another quick jump backwards sent the blade within inches of Zett's stomach. Zett quickly returned to his previous position and sent his blade towards Jorec's knees. Jorec leapt backwards and landed a few feet away from Zett.

While Jorec and Zett sparred, they did not notice Depa Billaba walking in the room.

"Master Drallig, there is some troubling news regarding the operation on Geonosis. Early reports suggest that there were heavy casualties."

"How many?"

"Around fifteen Jedi survived…"

Jorec wiped the sweat off his brow and sat down on his bunk in a large common room. He absentmindedly rubbed his left arm, trying to return feeling back to it from Zett's finishing blow in their duel. In his right hand, he clumsily held a datapad containing a history text of the Jedi Order provided by the Jedi Library.

He sighed in worry as he began reading about one of the last major wars the Republic had been in, and the horrifying aftermath of it.

_So, this is what it comes to. War… With the droid and clone armies facing each other, the fighting could last forever. Both sides are pretty much disposable. That means, one day I'll have to fight. I could be out there in three years! What if I'm killed? Will my parents even be notified? Will I even get to meet them as other Jedi have? What of my friends here? And my instructors? Will the Jedi even survive this war? I need advice, I need to ask Master Yoda about these feelings when he returns from Geonosis. If he survived…_

**Three Years Later**

Jorec Merridon looked at the Coruscant cityscape from the view of an open balcony in the Jedi Temple. Without thinking he ran the fingers of his right hand over the black Padawan braid that ran down toward his right shoulder. He gazed at the aircar traffic that sped around the city even at this hour. Jorec rolled over on his back, and then quickly kipped up and landed on his feet. He needed to get rest for tomorrow. Tomorrow was the day he officially became a Padawan learner. The next day would bring a series of tests that he hoped would prove himself worthy of being a Padawan to some unknown master. And with that, came the Clone Wars…

The past three years had been full of war as both the Republic and the Separatists gained and lost ground almost equally. For every Kamino and Dantooine there was a Hypori and a Jabiim. And there was General Grievous… The thought of one day having to face the cybernetic general sent chills through Jorec whenever he thought about it. He had heard numerous whispers amongst the other children his age of the horrific exploits of Grievous, how he had once held his own against five Jedi Masters, and the time he single handedly destroyed an entire regiment of clone troopers. Of course, Jorec had thoughts that the numbers were heavily exaggerated, but the slight twinge of doubt remained.

The next day involved a grueling set of simple tasks using the Force. For about half an hour, Jorec moved things using the Force, exhibited that he could use the Force to improve his own physical condition, and finally he faced off against two nasty remotes determined to get their volleys of blaster fire past his lightsaber. Despite these simple tasks, Jorec kept a level head during his tests, and every once and a while looked toward the four Jedi looking for a Padawan to attempt to gauge their reactions. Going last of the five students, Jorec knew how all of the other Padawans had done. Soon, he was dismissed from his demonstrations and took a seat with all of the other hopeful Padawans and awaited the decisions of the Jedi Masters.

Soon a middle-aged man in his early thirties approached Jorec. His wore his light brown hair long, and was clean-shaven, on his belt were two lightsabers. He extended his hand toward Jorec. Jorec shook the Jedi Master's hand and stood up.

"Hello Jorec, I am Merrick Fionst and I select you to be my Padawan Learner. I was quite impressed with your demonstrations out there. I feel that I can offer you some of the best teaching on how to be a Jedi in these turbulent times. Do you accept my teachings."

Jorec smiled slightly and bowed.

"Yes, I acc…"

Before Jorec could finish his sentence, a messenger quickly ran into the room.

"Urgent message from our planetary lookouts. The _Invisible Hand_ is nearing Coruscant with several Control Ships and several landing craft have broken through our defenses. We fear a land engagement with Grievous is imminent!"

Merrick quickly looked at Jorec and handed him a lightsaber from his belt.

"I'll have to tell you the story about this later. Stay in the Temple and help the others protect the younglings in case a few droids break away and head toward the Temple."

"Master, what if Grievous…"

"If you see Grievous, run."

Jorec watched as the Masters in the room quickly ran out of the room to join the others defending the capital of the Republic from the Separatists threatening it. He looked at the lightsaber in his hand, and analyzed it. He thumbed the activation switch and watched as the blue blade came alive. A rumble in the distance signified that the battle was already starting. He deactivated the lightsaber and left the room and headed towards the spot he was supposed to guard.

_I'm not even a Padawan for five minutes and my life is already in danger…_


	4. Chapter III: Battle of Coruscant 19 BBY

**Chapter III: The Battle of Coruscant (19 BBY)**

The distant sounds of blaster fire and explosions alerted Jorec that the battle for the city was already beginning. He looked out one of the massive windows in the hall as several younglings crowded towards him. From the window he could see several ARC-170's scramble from several military spaceports around the area. He could also see the Seperatists Tri-fighters begin an attack run on the city. He watched as the droid fighter's laser cannons tore into buildings, sending rubble flying into the air and tumbling into the city's lower levels.

Jorec quickly regained control of himself and the younglings from the awe of battle and began herding the young students towards the nearest lift in the Temple.

They should be safe in the lower levels of the Temple in case any bombers slip through the defenses.

As he led the children towards safety, Jorec watched as all available Jedi raced towards defensive positions our out into the battle itself. May the Force be with them, Jorec thought as he entered a medium sized room in the lower portions of the Temple. The room was windowless, and the walls were bare. On the floor sat four cushions that were occupied by the younglings that were quick enough to reach them first. The rest of the children, a mixture of many species, found comfortable places on the floor and sat down. Jorec himself sat down on the floor and closed his eyes.

Merrick Fionst wiped the sweat from his forehead during a brief lull in the combat. The dark skinned man beside him did the same thing. Merrick's eyes quickly scanned the area as battle droids quickly emerged from their cover and began firing towards the two Jedi. Lightsabers up, the two Jedi Masters kneeled behind their cover and deflected as many bolts as they could back towards the droids. Three of the bolts struck home as two droids collapsed into the streets. The rest of the deflected blaster bolts struck the downed permacrete structure the droids were using as cover.

Judging from this angle, Merrick could see that the cover the battle droids were using was almost perfect. Provided with a basic reinforcement plan, the droids could stay in that area almost indefinitely. Both Jedi watched as blue and red blaster bolts screamed over their heads and smelled the burning ozone provided by the shots.

"Watch out, sirs!"

A command clone trooper quickly raced towards their position, and slid the rest of the way when the droids began concentrating on him.

"Commander Hal here, generals. Those droids are certainly well entrenched over there. We've attempted to call in an air strike, but all craft are currently engaged elsewhere."

The dark skinned man deactivated his lightsaber and replied to the clone.

"Any suggestions on how to get out of this? I have a feeling that this is a standstill that won't end for a long time."

"Only one, General Rahn."

The clone pulled a spherical object from his belt and presented it to the two Jedi.

"This is the only one we could scrounge up from the demolitions guy after he was hit. One of you should throw it, I don't think I can make it past their cover."

Merrick looked at the object with shock.

"I don't think we have to worry much about missing with that thing."

"It's possible that their cover will absorb much of the damage from it."

Qu Rahn grabbed the object and held in his right hand and turned to his companions.

"Cover me. And be careful not to accidentally hit this thing with your 'saber, Merrick. "

Merrick nodded and quickly stood up, drawing the attention of several droids who swerved to fire at the Jedi. Rahn quickly exhaled and felt the Force flow through him as he activated the detonation trigger on the device.

"1…2…"

Rahn quickly rose up and tossed the device towards the droids' barricade. He watched as the device flew through the air, hearing the beeping of the powerful explosive as it neared its target.

"Everybody down!"

Merrick finished blocking a final blaster bolt and quickly dropped to the ground. He watched Rahn and Hal do the same thing. A loud explosion erupted throughout the area as the device detonated, sending a large shock wave throughout the battle zone. Merrick felt the permacrete wall serving as his cover begin to vibrate with the force of the massive explosion.

Soon the sound of blaster fire brought them back to their senses as the clones quickly opened fire on the devastated area. After a few seconds, the firefight stopped and a clone lieutenant quickly raced up to the two Jedi and the commander.

"Sirs, are you all OK? Do you require medical assistance?"

Merrick looked at the clone and shook his head. He stood up and shook the dust from his robes. He turned towards the location of the droid barricade and stared in astonishment. The barrier had been blasted apart, sending chunks of permacrete across the entire area. A few droid bodies, now reduced to useless metal fragments, also lay scattered across the area. Merrick gazed at the area where the device had seemingly detonated and saw nothing but a large crater in the ground and quickly cooling molten slag. He looked at Commander Hal and slowly chuckled.

"I told you that you didn't have to worry about missing with those things. But a Jedi with a thermal detonator, what's next?"

The commander began laughing as well.

"You never know."

Rahn looked at the destruction and slowly shook his head.

"Not on my watch. I wouldn't be caught dead using one of those things again. And if one of my stu…"

The chirp of Merrick's comlink interrupted Rahn's speech.

"General Fionst here."

Merrick carefully listened to the voice on the comlink. He shrugged his shoulders and responded.

"You'll have to repeat that, I can barely hear you."

Merrick held the comlink to his ear and finally heard the bad news.

"What is it, General Fiosnt?"

"All Jedi are to hurry to Master Windu. General Grievous has succeeded in abducting the Chancellor. We have to hurry if we hope to retrieve him."

Rahn looked at Merrick and let loose a sigh.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Jorec listened to the communications between the Republic forces with a device provided to him by Master Nu. He had heard Master Windu speak of the abduction of the Chancellor by Grievous and the wounding of Shaak Ti and the deaths of her companions. He had also heard reports from several other Jedi out in the "streets". A look of worry crossed his face.

"Master Merridon, what's wrong? I sense worry coming from you."

Jorec quickly removed the ear pieces of the communications device and looked to see a young Zabrak child staring down at him. For a second, Jorec wondered whether or not to lie to the child and spare him the fright he had felt after hearing about the massacre on Geonosis.

"General Grievous has abducted Chancellor Palpatine, all the Jedi outside the Temple are being called to rescue him. Don't worry, it will all be OK."

Somehow, Jorec knew that his attempt to comfort the child didn't work. It probably was the worried expression on his own face that caused him to fail, but his choice of words couldn't have helped much either.

A knock at the door startled Jorec and the younglings. A collective sigh of relief was loosed when the door opened to reveal Cin Drallig.

"It's safe to come out now, the droids are retreating. It seems the Chancellor was their primary objective. You can all return to your quarters. Jorec, escort them to make sure they get there in one piece."

"Yes, Master Drallig."

An hour later, the exhausted Merrick Fionst walked into the Jedi Archives and observed his new Padawan at a nearby table overlooking a stack of datapads.

"What's this all about, Jorec?"

"Hello, Master. While you were out in the middle of battle, I received our marching orders."

Jorec rummaged through the pile of datapads and finally pulled out the one he was searching for.

"Most of it was encrypted to you, but I already read through the information that wasn't."

Merrick took the datapad and activated it. The image of a lush green planet emitted from the pads holoprojector. The planet rotated slowly, showing off a large ocean that divided the planet's two massive continents. A tiny computerized voice also emitted from the datapad.

"Selvernos: A planet in the Outer Rim placed near the Toprawa and Yavin Systems. Aproximately one month ago, the CIS set up a base roughly 100 km from the capital city of Gevest."

Merrick turned off the computerized voice and continued to read their orders while Jorec continued to research the planet itself. After a while, Merrick thumbed the pad off.

"Well, it appears we leave tomorrow. Get some rest, meet me in the main hall at 0900."

"Understood, Master."

A loud sonic boom quickly gained the attention of all of the Jedi in the room. Jorec and Merrick rushed to one of the windows in the Archives and watched as in the distance the bisected remains of a Separatist ship quickly flew/fell towards the planet in a slightly controlled manner.

"Master, what's that?"

"Well, Jorec, I think that's the _Invisible Hand._ Those two always have to have their flashy entrances…"


	5. Chapter IV: Eve of Betrayal 19 BBY

Chapter IV: Eve of Betrayal (19 BBY)

The green and blue world of Selvernos slowly rotated around the yellow star, oblivious to the violence going on in its orbit. The four Droid Control Ships controlling the planet began emptying their hangars of Vulture Droids and Tri-Fighters. The droid starfighters quickly sped their way towards the Venator Star Destroyers that had just emerged from hyperspace in the system.

The Venators soon opened fire upon the small fighters with their massive turbolasers, only to have the droid fighters quickly evade the lasers coming towards them.

Jorec tried to calm himself as he sat in the hard seat of a troop carrier in one of the Venator's massive hangar bays. The thought of his first real battle filled the young Padawan with dread. He could hear the sound of the droid fighters' laser cannons impacting harmlessly against the massive shields of the Star Destroyer. A worried cry escaped from Jorec as a lucky shot from one of the Droid Control Ships impacted near the hangar bay.

"Relax, Jorec. We don't need to worry until we leave the safety of the ship. Then we will have fighters escorting us, and the big control ships will be concentrating on the Destroyer itself, not the ships launching from it."

"Yes, master. I'll try to be more mindful in the future."

The yellow striped clone trooper sitting next to him secured his helmet and then turned to Jorec.

"Hey Colonel Merridon, you should really listen to General Fionst and me. Not many troop carriers have been destroyed by capital ships in this war. It's usually the small fighters we need to worry about. I've been on 12 combat drops in this war, and nothing bad has happened to a ship I'm on."

"Thank you Commander Hal. When are we launching?"

A slight jar reverberated throughout the landing craft as the shield over the open hangar bay doors was removed. Then the sound of the air rushing out of the room and the defense guns filled Jorec's ears.

"They're launching the first wave of escort fighters right now. I'd say in a few minutes. Make sure your crash webbing is secure."

Jorec felt another slight bump as the landing craft slowly lifted itself off of the floor of the hangar. The ship soon fired its rear engines and blazed out of the hangar. The vulture droids quickly found their new target and began tailing the transport ship, only to be reduced to wreckage by the transport's guns and the escorting V-Wings.

The troop transport craft quickly raced towards the planet's surface, evading stray shots from several Vulture Droids and the pursuing V-Wings.

"Jorec, when we land on the battle field stay close to me. If we stick together, the chances of us being injured or killed will be lowered. Remember that there is a time to fight and a time to run or surrender. Trust the Force."

"Yes, Master Fionst. But what if we get separated in battle?"

"Stick close to the troops near you. And remember, in this battle you will more than likely come face to face with fear. Do not act out of fear or hatred, for they are the path to the Dark Side."

With a thud, the landing craft hit the ground and the main hatch opened. Jorec quickly unstrapped himself from his crash webbing and followed the clones and his master as they raced to meet the battle droids in front of them. With a snap-hiss, Jorec ignited his new lightsaber, watching as the blue blade came to life. He also watched as the red blaster bolts from the droid army in front of him tore towards him.

Raising his lightsaber into a defensive position as he rushed towards the front line, Jorec deflected a blaster bolt that came dangerously close to him. Up ahead, he could see the green blade of his master's lightsaber twirling through the air in a dervish of destruction meant for the battle droids up ahead. Also ahead of him where the kneeling forms of clone troopers firing at the droids.

The scream of Vulture Droids in the sky above distracted Jorec for an instant as they made their attack runs against the lightly defended clones. The guns of the transport ship roared to life as they targeted the fighters in the sky above. The advance troops quickly raced towards their objective, avoiding the fiery attacks from the droids ahead.

Jorec quickly reached his master amid the chaos of battle and watched as the older man quickly decapitated two battle droids advancing. Jorec reached out with the Force and sent a single battle droid tumbling onto the ground, a quick down slash destroyed the nearly disabled droid.

With a quick movement, Jorec sent his lightsaber into the middle of a battle droid, slicing through the metal. Merrick made quick work of four nearby droids and sent another four into the hard ground with a quick movement of his hand.

The red laser bolts came towards them as the droids began to concentrate on the two Jedi. Knowing they were outnumbered, the two Jedi began falling back to the safety of their own line. Jorec watched as his lightsaber quickly moved to deflect any bolts that came close to him. However, he was not fast enough to deflect a bolt that seemingly came out of nowhere. It came in almost impossibly fast and Jorec could hear the bolt as it passed within inches of his head. Fear overcame the young Padawan as the bolts kept coming towards the two, and the blaster shots from behind him seemed to come in fewer than before.

"Don't despair Jorec, we're almost to cover. Keep close to me and stay focused."

Jorec tried to reply to his master, but the words came out as an unintelligible mumble. The few minutes they were out in the field seemed like hours as they neared a rock serving as cover for several clone troopers. Jorec was the first one to jump behind it, and he leaned his back against the rock, and began to catch his breath.

Merrick quickly reached the cover and turned off his lightsaber as he reached safety. The clones quickly popped up from behind the rock and fired a quick volley at the approaching battle droids. A faint clanking sound alerted Merrick to the danger about to come, he reached out with the Force and saw the rolled up Droidekas approaching their position.

"Destroyers incoming! Take them out before they can get their shields up!"

A clone acknowledged his order and quickly pulled a cylindrical object from behind his back. Another clone quickly assisted him in setting the rocket launcher up as the destroyers quickly approached their position. The clone quickly finished his task and took aim at the center destroyer rolling towards their position and fired. The resulting explosion took out all of the destroyers rolling their way.

"Good shot. How long until air support gets here?"

Commander Hal looked at Merrick and replied.

"We have LAATs incoming as we speak to help clear out this area, but we need to make some more headway before the tanks can land."

"Hopefully the LAATs can help us with that. What's their ETA?"

"About three minutes, sir. We can hold out until then."

Jorec finally caught his breath and leaned out from behind his cover and gazed over the droids heading their way. Several were caught by the blasts of the clones taking cover with him. Jorec held out his lightsaber and attempted to deflect the shots back towards their shooters, only to watch them go wide. Jorec let out a curse.

_I was never any good at that. _

The sound of approaching ships grew larger in Jorec's ears as cheers began to erupt from several clones farther back. He returned to the safety of the rock and looked backwards towards the back of the army. Bright flashes of red and green light erupted as ten LAATs quickly raced to the front of the battle with all of their guns blazing into the droid lines. The troops behind his rock quickly raised up and began firing towards the droids. Jorec and Merrick quickly rushed out from behind their cover and ran into the fleeing droid army with their lightsabers cutting down any droids that were too slow.

The sun of Selvernos was slowly setting as the last of the prefab buildings were set down near the newly won ground. The droids had retreated back to their base for repair and reinforcements. Jorec quickly finished unloading his equipment into his private quarters and smiled to himself.

_Wow, a private room for the first time in my life. No more shared room with the other younglings, no more disturbed sleep!_

A knock on his door removed Jorec from his thoughts.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal Merrick, dressed in a simple combat uniform. His lightsaber held in his hand.

"Hey Jorec, have you heard the news?"

"What news?"

"We in the command center have just received word that Master Kenobi has engaged and defeated General Grievous on Utapau. This war is pretty much over."

"Grievous was defeated?"

Merrick nodded and a smile came upon his face.

"I hardly believed the news when I heard it as well, but we just received confirmation from headquarters."

"Why the lightsaber then, if the wars over?"

"Sen Udo-Mal and his Padawan are outside sparring right now, and since there isn't much chance of a counter attack tonight, I figured we should get some practice as well."

"I'll meet you out there."

Jorec quickly grabbed his brown robe and picked up his lightsaber. He put the robe on and walked outside.

The sparring area was near the edge of camp, in between two prefab shelters and near the edge of a massive forest. The trees swayed lightly in the breeze and the air was humid, Jorec could sense that a rain shower was soon on its way.

Sen Udo-Mal and his Padawan were already sparring, the older Cerean and the younger Ithorian moved almost too quickly for Jorec to see. Seeing Merrick, Jorec ignited his lightsaber and raised in a salute. Merrick returned the salute and assumed a battle stance.

Commander Hal sat in the command center of Selvernos as he scanned the reports of Separatist movements in the sector, and their retreat. The voice of his second-in-command broke the silence in the room.

"Commander, incoming message from Coruscant on the Chancellor's channel."

"Patch it through."

The tactical readout of the area disappeared and was replaced by a hooded figure, his features hidden by the hood, but sagging skin showed through.

"Commander Hal… Execute Order 66…"


	6. Chapter V: Order 66

Chapter V: Order 66

The robed figure quickly lunged towards the taller figure, his blue blade arching towards the chest of his opponent. The older man's green blade quickly blocked the blue blade and responded with a quick thrust to his student's midsection. Jorec quickly dodged to the right and spun, intending to gain momentum on his next attack. The older Jedi calmly reached out with his left hand, and with a surge from the Force sent Jorec flying across the battlefield.

Landing on his back, Jorec quickly kipped up and launched himself at his master. Merrick quickly swung his lightsaber towards Jorec. The younger Jedi held out his blade to stop his master's attack, only to have his lightsaber battered away. Another quick attack and Jorec found himself staring at the green blade as it hovered inches from his neck.

"You should have evaded that move in some other way than trying to block it."

Jorec nodded his head and used the Force to call his lightsaber back to him. He stepped away from his master and ignited the blade again. Jorec heard the clashing of lightsabers from across the courtyard and sighed to himself. He feigned left and quickly attempted to sweep his master. Merrick leaped over the trip attempt and landed a few feet away from Jorec.

The sound of boots hitting the dry ground amplified as Jorec quickly got back up on his feet. He turned to the origin of the sound and saw the white battle armor of the clone troops he and his master had commanded earlier that day.

"Master Fiosnt, what are they doing here?"

Merrick turned to look at the intruders. They wore full combat gear and carried their weapons in front of them. Merrick had seen this posture only once before, he had seen this pose when leading the troops into battle against the droid armies of the Separatists. The realization dawned on him on what the clones were going to do when a warning through the Force was sounded. He let out a curse and said the only words he had time to say.

"Take cover!"

The clones raised their rifles and began firing on the four Jedi, who were quickly racing towards the permacrete support beams of the prefab shelters. With a Force assisted leap, Jorec landed behind one and took cover. He could hear the blaster shots hitting the support beam, hear the permacrete chip and in some portions explode from the shots.

Jorec held his lightsaber in front of him as he sneaked a peek at the attacking clones. A shot came close, only to be deflected by his lightsaber. He could see Merrick doing the same thing, deflecting several blaster shots back towards their new enemy. In the distance, he could see Sen Udo-Mal and his Padawan doing the same thing. Several clone troopers went down to their own shots, only to be replaced by more.

There were several thousand clone troopers in this structure, and all of the Jedi knew that they couldn't hold them all off. Merrick overlooked the battle from behind his cover, and flinched when the shrapnel of exploding permacrete burst near him. He turned around and looked at the Cerean Sen Udo-Mal and his Ithorian Padawan as well. He then turned to look at Jorec, who was now cowering behind his cover.

_I doubt any of us is going to make it out of this alive, although Jorec probably has the better chance of escaping this battle._

Merrick deflected a few more bolts back at their shooters before remembering his life. Had it only been three years since his first battle, on the horrific fields of Geonosis? Those three years had seemed like decades, the battles and the horrors of war he had witnessed. He had seen children as young as Jorec fall on the field of battle, but never to such treachery.

"Hey, Sen! We need to try to get at least one of us out of this mess!"

"How, and who?"

"Jorec probably has the best chance!"

Jorec deflected a blaster shot towards the group and quickly returned to his cover. The fear and the treachery of the clones were heavy on his mind. He heard his master shout something, but couldn't make it out over the sounds of battle.

Sen Udo-Mal looked at the cover ahead of him, the shelter of his Padawan was almost demolished, but the brave Ithorian kept fighting on. Knowing that this target was almost dead, most of clones seemed to concentrate on the Ithorian in front of them. With his yellow blade moving extremely fast in front of him, the Ithorian quickly deflected most of the shots coming his way back towards the troops, but his saber could only be in so many places as a blue bolt pierced the Ithorian's leg. He collapsed to the ground, still trying to deflect the many bolts coming his way. Another shot hit the Padawan in the chest, killing the Padawan.

Sen knew what had to be done. One of the three Jedi here needed to survive, at least one of them…

"Tell me when Merrick. We'll provide cover for him."

Showers of permacrete landed on Jorec's head as he cowered behind the support beam, the cover he had been hiding behind was soon going to become unusable. Suddenly, Jorec heard the voice of his Master in his head.

"Jorec, when I tell you to run into forest. Run as far as you can and hide somewhere. Do not look back."

Merrick opened his eyes and hoped his Padawan had gotten the message, he finished deflecting a few shots that came his way.

"Sen, now!"

Merrick watched as the Cerean emerged from his cover and began to move towards the clones. Soon, he joined the Cerean and emerged from his cover as well.

"Jorec, run NOW!"

Jorec felt the Force flow through him after hearing his master's words and soon took off towards the woods at an unnaturally fast speed.

Merrick slowly began walking backward, deflecting shots as he left. He had heard the clones shout to each other to fire at the Jedi making a run for the forest. He watched as Sen was hit three times and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, the green lightsaber extinguishing as its owner died. He was the only one left, the only one to provide the much needed cover to his Padawan. He would not fail this one like he failed the other on Geonosis.

A shot arced overhead, and Merrick quickly overextended himself to deflect the shot that would have surely hit Jorec. At the same time, a shot slammed into his gut. Merrick felt the blow, yet attempted to stay up as long as he could. A few more shots were deflected, but another shot hit the Jedi Master in the chest.

Unable to stand any longer, Merrick fell to the ground. All that existed in his mind was the pain of his wounds and one thought.

May the Force be with you, Jorec, and with us all… 

Blaster bolts raced overhead and to his side as Jorec fled into the woods. With his lightsaber dangling on his belt, the young Jedi ran as fast as he could away from the murderous people that he once thought he could trust. A few shots came extremely close and a slight smell of something burning came to Jorec's nose. The path was illuminated heavily by the twin full moons shining in the night sky. Running quickly along the path, Jorec could hear the sound of the clone troopers following far behind him. Right now, the only thought in his head was how he was going to survive. He didn't notice the ravine in front of him until it was almost too late…


	7. Chapter VI: In Hiding 19 BBY

**Chapter VI: In Hiding (19 BBY)**

Commander Hal stared at the holographic tactical report as it flashed the location of his troops. He watched as several AT-RTs scurried across the holoemitter, searching for the young Jedi that had seemingly escaped from their grasp.

It had been four hours since Order 66 had been received and carried out, and now the bodies of the dead traitors were being disposed of while the search went on.

They'll find that traitor soon, and he will be brought to justice just like the rest of them… 

The chirp of his comlink brought Hal out of his daydreaming, sending the clone to check up on the hourly report.

"Commander Hal, sir, the rain is impeding our AT-RTs we request sending all units back to base until the ground is more stable. We can continue the search on foot, if you would like sir!"

"Have your AT-RTs report to base, and order your pilots to continue the search on foot."

"Yes sir."

The sound of the pouring rain echoed loudly throughout the cave as Jorec huddled as far as he could into a crevice, his body compact to try and hold his body heat in. He shivered as the temperature in the cave fell to 65 degrees; cold compared to the 90-degree heat that he had experienced just that afternoon.

_This afternoon,_ he thought. _It seems so long ago…_

A sound outside of the cave alerted Jorec from his thoughts, with a quick movement of his hand, his drying tunic flew quickly to his side, and his master's old lightsaber flew into his hand. Jorec crouched, his left thumb hovering over the activation switch.

"Sir, what about this cave?"

A dreadful silence filled the air, broken only by the slowing rain outside. Jorec's breathing quickened in fear as the clones were seemingly ready to barge into the cave and murder him as they had murdered the other Jedi.

"The scanner's not picking up anything from inside of it. It's probably clean like the rest of them."

"Don't you think we ought to check this one out?"

Another period of silence, Jorec's thumb was shaking over the activation switch, waiting for the clones to enter the cave and attack him. And with the events of the rest of the day, there was little doubt that they would kill him.

"We don't need to, another patrol found something about four clicks downstream."

Jorec went off guard for a second, a slowly let out a sigh of relief.

_They found my robe. Thank the Force for the insight to throw it into the river after I nearly fell into it._

An hour later, Commander Hal sat once again next to a tactical display. After finding the cloak on the banks of the Rielest River, most of the activity on the display had died down.

A lieutenant quickly entered the room, carrying a drenched brown robe, the robe of a Jedi.

"Sir, here's the robe we found an hour ago. You wished to see it?"

"Yes, lay it out on the table over there."

The lieutenant unfolded the robe and laid it on the white table. Commander Hal's eyes glanced over the robe, his eyes studying the few burn marks littering the back portion of it. One hole was in the shoulder region and another in the lower back. He carefully studied the holes and finally turned to the other soldier in the room.

"I suppose that no body was found?"

"No sir, but evidence near the trail our target fled upon suggested that he fell into the river, presumably after being shot."

"When the river calms down, send some divers to search the river for a body. I doubt we'll find it however, it's probably fish food by now."

"Yes sir."

Hal watched as the lieutenant left the room. He sighed and tossed the robe to the ground.

A slight growl awoke Jorec as the early morning light begin making its way into the cave's entrance. Jorec snapped to attention, his hand immediately grasping the lightsaber on the ground near his waist. In the pale light, he could see a large creature rummaging around throughout the cave. It seemed to stand on its hind legs and roared towards the frightened young Jedi.

With his hand outstretched, Jorec slowly approached the creature. He attempted to use the Force to calm the angry creature down, but was rewarded with another show of power from the creature. Jorec activated his lightsaber and held towards the shape.

In the blue light cast by his lightsaber, Jorec could see the creature that was threatening him. The creature was catlike, with grayish black fur that turned to black on its back. The creature hissed at the lightsaber, and then took a swipe at the Jedi invading its home. Its claw was intercepted by the lightsaber, and with a sizzling sound and a smell of burning flesh and hair, the paw was severed from its leg.

The creature howled in pain and with a surge of adrenaline running through its system, attacked Jorec again. This time, the lightsaber met with the creature's head, killing it.

Jorec swung his lightsaber around the cave, searching for any other threat, only to deactivate it as no other threat was to be found in the cave. He quickly walked over to his now dry tunic and dressed himself. Still holding his lightsaber, Jorec sneaked towards the cave's opening. The rain had stopped sometime during the night, and the setting moons provided little illumination. Not wanting to risk drawing attention to himself by igniting his lightsaber, Jorec returned back to the possible safety of the cave and sat down.

Sitting in the dark cave alone, Jorec began remembering the events of the day before. Tears came to his eyes as he remembered watching the clone soldiers he thought he could trust raise their blasters and begin firing upon him and the other Jedi. He began to wonder why the troops had betrayed him. Was it a defect in their creation, a remnant of their host still remaining in them? Or was it something worse? Could it be that the troops were told to betray the Jedi?

Jorec shook his head; the last choice couldn't be true. It had to be a defect in their creation. All he had to do was find the nearest city and lay low until a Jedi rescue party came looking for him. He tried to comfort himself with this thought, but deep down he knew that there would be no rescue party. For all he knew, he was the last Jedi alive…

Commander Hal stood in front of the holoemitter and looked at the cloaked man whose image was projecting from it. The new emperor was sitting down somewhere, and seemed impatient.

"Commander Hal, I assume you have good news for me?"

"Yes, milord. Upon receiving your order three days ago, we executed it while they were training. They were easily dealt with, sir."

"Then why the delay in contacting me?"

"We were having trouble locating the last body. However, we were able to locate evidence that he was indeed killed."

"What evidence, commander?"

"We found evidence that he was fatally shot, and then fell into the Rielest River about a kilometer from our camp. We sent divers to locate his body, but we have evidence to believe that his body was eaten by local wildlife."

"Again, what evidence?"

The Emperor's scowl startled Hal.

"Milord, we lost four of our five divers to an extremely carnivorous fish in the river. There is no possible way for him to have survived. And all of our scouting trips, that searched in a 15-kilometer radius of our camp has come up with other evidence of his survival."

Commander Hal flinched as the Emperor seemed to think this over. He had recently heard rumors of a displeased Emperor killing disobedient clones through some strange power.

The Emperor's face quickly turned away from Hal, and looked down. A slight smile seemed to form on his face.

"You have done your job well, Commander. Prepare to report back to Coruscant."

"Yes, milord. But what about the Separatists? Their camp is still here?"

"My information on that matter is classified, but be assured that there will be no other attacks on your base. I have foreseen it."

"Yes, milord."


	8. Chapter VII: Back To Life 17 BBY

Author's Note: I have a feeling that this will be my worst chapter as of yet. The reasoning behind this is because of the massive attack of Writer's Block that occurred this week…

**Chapter VII: Back To Life (17 BBY)**

The small campfire illuminated the fifteen year old Jorec as he carefully packed the brown bag near his feet. What little survival gear he had managed to steal from campers in Selvernos' wilderness had been put to good use in the two years he had been out here.

_Two years,_ Jorec thought. _Has it really been that long? Have I really been out here on my own for that long? _

Two years without human contact, it was enough to drive many people out of their minds, but Jorec had barely been able to keep his sanity. Although, there was that voice that appeared every now and then. The voice had appeared sporadically throughout the two years, and despite it sounding vaguely familiar Jorec could never pinpoint exactly whom it was that was speaking.

_Yeah, that voice. Remind me to see a psychologist if I ever get out of here. And the frequent nightmares can't be healthy either. _ _Speaking of getting out of here, I really do need to find someway to reintegrate myself back into society. _

Jorec pulled his lightsaber from its hiding place and placed it in the bag, for the last two years the lightsaber had served as his sole means of gaining meat as well as protection from more of the feline creatures that seemed to prowl the area.

Satisfied that his survival pack was packed adequately, Jorec quickly doused the fire and headed away from his camp, headed towards what he thought was civilization.

Mount Sentiss rose quietly on the horizon as Jorec followed the trail near his campsite. According to the information he had remembered two years ago, there was supposed to be a small settlement near the base of the small mountain based around a major tourist industry. In Jorec's mind, that settlement would be a good place to blend in and make a new life for himself. If he could be able to find suitable employment with his age and find somewhere safe to live that wasn't a campsite in the forest.

A mile from the settlement, Jorec could see the slightly familiar sight of several aircars as they moved about from one place to the other. He rummaged through his bag and grabbed a handful of berries and ate them.

As he walked towards the settlement, Jorec could barely see the sun reflecting off of several large buildings that were coming in to view through the forest. And soon a large grassy field replaced the monotony of the forest.

Once inside the city, Jorec was a little shocked at the site of the multitudes of people making their way down the outdoor market. It had been years since he had seen so many people, and the paranoia of being spotted and recognized filled Jorec with the urge to bolt out of the city and back to his hiding place in the forest. Common sense quickly caught up with him as he began to realize that just entering a city and then quickly running out of it would only make him appear more suspicious.

A large complex near the edge of town was his destination. He had heard from several campers and hikers he had spied on about this place. It was a place where his new found talents could be put to good use. He had seen some of the employees roaming through the forest with their charges, hunting several of the creatures that he himself was hunting at the time.

Jorec saw the "Now Hiring" sign hanging from the main entrance and smiled. This was the chance to rejoin society he was waiting for, yet it provided a small amount of anonymity that he required. He walked through the main door and walked up to the main desk.

A nervous voice echoed from Jorec's throat as he introduced himself to the receptionist.

"I'm Jorec, I saw from the sign that you're accepting applications. For what position in the company are you hiring?"

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen…"

"Well, we are always accepting applications for apprentice hunters, but you have to be 16 to apply for that job. We do have some small jobs around the place that are hiring, however."

"What are they?"

"Food service, mainly. Although there are some slots available in Guest Services at the hotel… Basically, you can apply to be a waiter, or apply to carry suitcases."

"I'll apply for both. Give me the forms…"

The receptionist quickly handed Jorec a datapad and directed him to a row of seats a few meters away. Jorec walked over to the chairs and began filling out the information required by the application. Only one thing worried him, the thumbprint identification required to verify his identity. Surely this could lead to a possible discovery!

_It may not lead to anything. Besides, you can't live your entire life like a hermit anymore. Didn't The Voice say to go here anyway? Are you actually considering trusting and listening to a figment of your imagination? Well, you are arguing to yourself…_

Jorec sighed and slowly pressed his right thumb onto the screen. The screen confirmed his identity and in a second it was finished. No red sirens, no blinking lights, and no sign that any alarm was raised over his name. Maybe The Voice was right after all.

After he handed the finished the application, Jorec nervously approached the front desk and handed the datapad to the receptionist. The receptionist took the datapad and sent the information away to some far away office.

"I sent your applications to Personnel. Wait here a few minutes, and they will be with you shortly."

Jorec nodded and headed towards the row of chairs once again. He drew several nervous breaths as he sat down on the soft red chair. The minutes he sat waiting for the results to come in seemingly stretched into hours as all of the thoughts about what could go wrong ran through his head. To his right the sliding door of the main entrance opened, Jorec quickly turned his head towards the sound and reached towards his survival bag, waiting for the troops to enter the building. Instead, his eyes saw a simple tourist entering the building. A sigh of relief escaped Jorec's throat as his paranoid fantasy was shattered by the normality of everyday commerce.

"Mr. Merridon, please enter my office."

Jorec jumped in fright as from behind him and to his right came a voice.

"Didn't mean to frighten you. Are you prepared for an interview?"

Jorec took a deep breath and stood up, facing the man.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm just a little jumpy today."

"Perfectly fine, follow me."

Jorec followed the man into his office, stopping to look at the many holos hanging from the walls and sitting on desks.

"Now, before we begin. You may have to explain something to me."

_Oh great, ambushed in an office…_

"Explain what?"

The words barely came from Jorec's mouth, the paranoia crept in again.

"We put your application through the main database, and what we found was pretty surprising. According to the records, you've been dead for two years…"


	9. Chapter VIII

Ch. VIII

Jorec quickly pressed himself against the back of his chair as the man in front of him revealed the results of the background check. Fear quickly pressed into his mind, all of the fear of living in the wilderness for those two years, the fear of being captured, and the fear of ending up like his master and the other two Jedi filled his brain. He could end this right now if he really wanted to… In his fear-clouded mind, Jorec could see him pulling the lightsaber out of the bag near his feet and cutting his way out of the building, but the thought was quickly shot down by reason.

I can't do something like that! One, it's just wrong to think about killing innocent people, and two: it would draw far too much attention to me.

The man behind the desk looked at Jorec strangely as the young Jedi seemed to stare into space for a few moments. He then turned back to his computer and began to reread the background of the young adult sitting in front of him. The information was relatively sparse; birth date, death date, parent's names and residence, criminal record…

_Criminal record? What could be in here?_

He quickly looked over at Jorec, who was now almost squirming in his chair. He then clicked to check over the criminal record this person could have. The computer quickly responded to his request, and a large list of charges quickly filled the screen.

What the hell? Treason, Conspiracy to Commit Treason, Conspiracy To Assassination. Conspiracy to… Conspiracy to… At 13? I've only seen this type of criminal record once before…

"I can see you're nervous. To tell you the truth, if I were in your position, I would be nervous too."

Jorec looked at him, studying him for any signs of betrayal. A few seconds ago, the man had done something on the computer and was shocked by something he saw. Something told Jorec that he could trust this man, and if he couldn't a quick escape could be made without killing anybody.

"What do you mean, 'In my position?'"

"Your record has quite an 'impressive' criminal record. Two years ago, before you apparently died, the record states that you were wanted for about 20 charges of conspiracy as well as treason. Now, it doesn't take a scientist to put a couple of things together."

Jorec slowly moved towards the end of his chair, ready to bolt out of the door as soon as the inevitable troops burst through the door.

"About two years ago, at the end of the Clone Wars, Emperor Palpatine…"

"_Emperor_ Palpatine?"

"Long story, you can find out about that later. Emperor Palpatine was allegedly targeted for assassination by the Jedi, and thus he declared all Jedi an enemy of the new Empire."

A look of disbelief crossed Jorec's face.

"That, that can't be true."

"I have several doubts as well. You were one of them, weren't you?"

Jorec quickly stood up, ready to grab his survival bag and run out of the building when the man's voice stopped him.

"Calm down, just calm down."

"How do I know that I can trust you?"

"From the rumors I've heard about what happened, I doubt you can find it easy to trust anybody. So, what exactly happened to the Jedi?"

"It is hard to trust you, and anyone for that matter. You want to know what happened?"

Haller Surool nodded to the Jedi now standing up near his desk.

"The clone troops we were supposed to be able to trust completely turned on us with no warning. I was sparring with my teacher and two other Jedi when they arrived and began murdering us. I ran away like a coward while my master and the others tried to do their best to keep _me_ alive."

Haller looked at the Jedi as he paced throughout the room. His voice was filled with anger and confusion, his eyes beginning to tear up.

"Look it couldn't have been you're fault."

"How do you know that? You weren't there! I heard the screams of pain from the others as I ran away. They could have easily survived if it hadn't have been for me!"

"You don't know that. My wife says that blaming yourself after a traumatic event is natural but one has to realize…"

"What does she know?"

"She's a psychologist in Gevest."

"You're going to turn me in, aren't you? You're going to betray me just like the troops did!"

Jorec's voice raised in anger, frightening Haller and causing him to jump slightly in his chair.

"No, I won't! You can trust me, I had a sister that was a Jedi!"

Jorec heard these words and let out a deep calming breath. Something still told him that he could trust this man. Jorec calmly apologized and sat back down in his chair.

"A sister as a Jedi. I'm sorry."

"Actually, I need to thank you. I never really knew her, but since I know that at least one Jedi survived it gives me hope that maybe she somehow survived as well. So, the troops didn't even try to arrest you?"

"They just opened fire on us."

"I really think you need to talk about this with my wife. I'll see if I can get you an appointment with her. You really need to talk about this to someone who knows what's really going on, rather than second hand knowledge. You've really been living out there alone for two years?"

A slight smile came across Jorec's face as he nodded.

"Yeah, two years."

"Unbelievable. Did they teach wilderness survival at the Jedi Temple?"

"A little bit. The rest just kind of came to me."

"You may like this place then, plenty of opportunities to prove your survival abilities out there. Of course, the guests want just enough wilderness to say that they got away from civilization and more than enough civilization to say that they didn't really leave the galaxy behind."

"I don't quite understand that reasoning."

"Me neither, but who can understand tourists?"

"One other thing, will I be safe here? If I'm to start a new life here, I want to know that I'll be safe."

"As far as I'm concerned, this conversation never happened."


	10. Chapter IX

Chapter IX 

Jorec sat nervously in his chair for the third time in three days. The room he was in was filled with several bookcases containing many datapads detailing psychology and even a few rare leather-bound books on the subject. The room was also furnished with a few nice chairs in which patients could sit.

"Excuse me, Jorec? You're drifting again."

Jorec focused his attention on the middle-aged blonde woman in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Surool. Where were we?"

"We were talking about your recent dreams. Now you've told me that Jedi rarely have normal dreams, or at the very least remember them. Do you think there's some sort of hidden meaning in these dreams?"

"Yes. In them, I'm always running. From what I can't see, but I can hear blaster fire behind me. I can also sense that I'm not the only one in danger here, I _feel_ three lives being threatened in it, but I can't even see who else is being chased."

"Three lives in addition to your own, or including?"

"Including my own life, I think."

"Now, you've mentioned the murders of the other Jedi earlier. What precisely happened?"

"Me and my master were sparring with two other Jedi to celebrate the war being over. While fighting, I saw the clone troopers march towards us and…"

A few tears came to Jorec's eyes. He sniffed and then wiped the tears from his eyes.

"And I watched them raise their weapons. We…we ran for the nearest cover we could find. Support beams for the prefab shelters. Then they opened fire on us…"

"How did you feel when this happened?"

"Betrayed. They were supposed to be totally obedient, they weren't made to turn on us! Frightened, angry, but mostly betrayed. Why do we even have to bring this up?"

"Because I believe that the incident that happened two years ago is the cause of your recent problems."

"It just… It's hard to bring these memories back."

"I understand, I've had several other patients who have said the same thing. Now, there were four of you when you fled?"

"No, only three. The Ithorian had already been killed."

"So, while you were running away from the clones there were three lives in danger?"

"Yes."

"Couldn't that be what the dreams have been about, and not some prophecy sent by the Force?"

"It's possible, but it just feels different from that."

"It's quite normal for those who have gone through an extremely traumatic incident to frequently have nightmares of that incident. Is there anything else to these dreams?"

"Not that I can remember."

Dr. Surool fiddled with a datapad for a second and then replied.

"From what you've told me about those dreams, they seem to be normal nightmares about what happened to you two years ago."

A beeping sounded interrupted her, a small look of annoyance came over Jorec's face.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. I'll have my assistant set up another appointment for you in one week, OK?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine. Thanks."

"It's no problem."

Jorec sat down in a small chair in his apartment and slowly shook his head. Despite all of the psychobabble Dr. Surool had offered as an explanation for his dreams, there was still the lingering feeling that these dreams actually were something more than his brain simply reliving the past. In fact, one of the lives in his dreams seemed much closer to him than any of the Jedi that had been killed. The other presence seemed an oddity to him however; it felt close to him yet at the same time distant.

He took a sip of water and slowly sighed. There had to be some hint of a possible future in this dream, if only he could actually focus on the events in the dream and bring more of this possible future to light.

"_You must be careful when sensing the future. You must realize that what a Jedi may sense is only a possible future, and only that. Great ruin can come from a Jedi that when trying to prevent a vision from taking place, actually causes it to take place. It has happened before, and it will happen again."_

Jorec quickly opened his eyes and searched the room for the source of the voice that had invaded his sleep, knowing that he wouldn't see the source. It was The Voice that had constantly helped during his two years in the wilderness, the voice that had seemed familiar yet

"Get out of here, you're not real, just an illusion created by me to help me deal with my problems."

"_If you do not wish to listen to my advice, I will no longer offer it. But be wary of the Dark Side, in the past few years it has grown especially stronger. Do not give in to anger and despair like many others have and will."_

"Good advice, now get out of my mind."

The following silence let Jorec know that The Voice had left, at least temporarily. The silence brought with it a sense of loneliness and emptiness to the room. To bring some life into the room, Jorec walked over to a device he had been told played music. The device began playing some song about living in the present tense. Disgusted that even the radio was given him advice on how to live, Jorec quickly walked over and turned the device off.

He looked at the chronometer on the device, and was amazed that it was already past midnight local time. Jorec went into the apartment's small bedroom and laid down on his bed, hoping that this night's sleep would not bring any nightmares. For once, he was right.


	11. Chapter X 16 BBY

**Chapter X (16 BBY)**

Jorec overlooked the targets before him, and felt the weight of the blaster carbine through his arm, sending the sights of the rifle in random directions. He drew in a calming breath and fired a shot towards the target 40 meters in front of him. The red bolt flew from the rifle and struck the outermost ring on the target. The target quickly dropped to the ground, only to be replaced by another 50 meters away. Jorec took aim again and fired another shot. It went wide and slammed into the blue shield at the back of the firing range; a slight shimmer emerged from the site of the hit and rippled throughout the back wall.

A curse escaped Jorec's lips as he watched the shot go wide. For the past two hours he had been practicing his aim, hoping to improve ever so slightly. The sound of blaster fire remained in the room as others kept up their shooting. Jorec closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths as he tried to keep the memories of that day three years prior buried safely where they were. The people here were not the traitorous clones, they could be relatively trusted. Despite telling himself this, and despite the visits to his psychologist, Jorec still could not entirely get rid of the feelings of uneasiness. And he felt that it would be a long while before he could ever truly be free from those feelings.

Jorec pushed a nearby button and watched as the target dropped to the ground and was replaced by another target just ten meters away. A quick shot sent a blaster bolt into the target ring nearest the center. The second target popped up twenty meters away, and met the same fate.

It had been five months since Jorec had begun to work on his aim with a blaster rifle, a much-needed skill with the hunters that had taken him in. In about another three months he would attempt to become an apprentice to one of the many hunters, the perfect job in Jorec's eyes.

Another target popped up in front of him, this time 40 meters away. The shot came about twenty seconds later, and hit the target near the center. The 50-meter target came up again, and this time was met with a shot on the outermost ring. Jorec had to smile, at last he was getting somewhere.

Two Months Later

"Isn't this a major case of Déjà vu…"

Jorec whispered to himself as he saw the twenty other people in the room impatiently sitting in the chairs waiting for a chance to prove that they had the potential to be an apprentice to one of the few hunters needing one.

In the years after Palpatine's New Order and the end of the Clone Wars, tourism to Selvernos had increased to its regular height. And even though the end of the Clone Wars was three years ago, the Mount Sentiss Hunting Association was still hurting from the conflict. To his left, Jorec could barely see the Wall of Remembrance through a closing door. The Wall was erected soon after the end of the conflict, and the names of 23 employees of the Association that had volunteered to fight for the Republic against the Separatists and had died in the battles that had waged over this planet. A full sixth of the hunters employed at the station had been killed, and the need for new employees to facilitate the regrowth of the industry was desperately needed.

The line shortened as Jorec watched another man take a nasty spill on the agility course, sending medics to take the man and his broken foot to a nearby medical center. A few others in the crowd cringed as they saw the extent of the injury, a slight sliver of bone protruding from the ankle.

Jorec let loose an impatient sigh as the long line slowly dwindled down as more hopefuls tried their best of the many skills of both wilderness knowledge, physical fitness, as well as marksmanship.

"Merridon, Jorec. You're up next."

_About time, I've been waiting here for over two hours… _

The target was about the same size as the one in the shooting range, yet moved from left to right in a steady movement. The young man followed the target with his sights for a few seconds and then let loose a shot that hit the target dead center. Things were quickly looking up…

Two Hours Later

Jorec had to let loose a slight chuckle as he reentered his apartment after the test. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and remembered the ease of almost every part of the test. It was true that his former life as a Jedi had provided the skills needed to pass all of the portions of the test, Especially the physical fitness portion of the test, but in his mind Jorec thought that his success today had been purely his own.

He moved into the small bedroom of the apartment and walked over to his closet. He reached into the top partition and soon found the lightsaber he hadn't seen in almost a year. He held the hilt in his left hand, absentmindedly circling it in his hand.

"One must realize that was in the past is in the past, it can never be changed. What lies ahead is the future and that is what can be molded."

Jorec heard these words in his mind, he knew them from somewhere but he had no recollection of where and when at the moment. A lesson in the Jedi Temple, or maybe a book on philosophy he had read somewhere, a great Corellian thinker, or his psychologist perhaps. All he knew at the moment was that those words couldn't be more correct at this time.

Memories flooded into Jorec's mind as he held the lightsaber in his hand; training at the Temple with several other students in how to use the Force properly, the lightsaber training he received at the Temple. Despite the first few happy memories, the memories of that terrible day seemed to come back to haunt him. Tears came to his eyes as the sound of the clone troopers gunfire echoed throughout his brain, the sound of the three other Jedi being slaughtered while he fled…

No… that was no cowardly act. The other Jedi knew what they were doing, sacrificing themselves so that at least one Jedi would survive the horror of the betrayal. But in a way, no Jedi survived what had happened. Jorec realized how deeply changed he had been as a result of the attack, the mental scars that still ran deep despite of the psychological help he received, the near inability to truly trust someone, the nightmares that still haunted him, and the fear that those nightmares were something other than simple dreams.

The brief remembrance of the event that had triggered the resurgence of these feelings, watching a local news program at the white armored troopers marching in front of an almost sickly looking old man. It was a parade of some sort on Coruscant, footage of the most recent Empire Day almost a month ago.

He looked down at the lightsaber in his hands, and saw not the elegant weapon and a former symbol of respect, but he saw a crutch. The last bit of an old life that was slowly attempting to pull him away from the new life he had just begun. It was a weak spot, Jorec thought, something that can be used against me. Something that can only bring me more pain…

The lightsaber seemed to grow heavy in his hand as he walked to the trash receptacle. Jorec held his lightsaber over it, preparing to shed the final vestiges of his former life, the life that he felt truly ended three years ago.

His right hand began to shake as he slowly loosened his grip on the lightsaber. This time, he would be able to do it, this time would be different.

He stood there for five minutes, seemingly unable to find the final bit of courage to assign the fifteen-year old blade to an incinerator somewhere on the planet.

With a thud, the lightsaber fell to the carpeted floor several centimeters from the trash bin and rolled towards Jorec's foot. A choked sob came from Jorec as he looked at the discarded lightsaber on the tan carpet. Three times before he had tried to destroy this part of his old life, and three times he failed. It almost seemed as if he could never fully destroy his past, but that he had to eventually learn to live with it…

And that thought frightened Jorec.


	12. Chapter XI

Chapter XI (16 BBY)

The small porcine creature quickly glanced up from its grazing area as a twig snapped three meters from its position. Its snout quickly came up, tasting the air and catching the scent of two human males walking along a path in the woods. The sound of footsteps crackling the fallen leaves came closer to its position. With a startled squeal, the creature darted from its meal and raced towards the relative safety of its burrow several meters away.

Dressed in camouflaged clothes, Jorec Merridon walked slightly behind Gregory Kinneson. Gregory spotted the animal and quickly quizzed Jorec on it.

"So, what was that that just ran away from us?"

Jorec thought for a moment, recognizing the animal but trying to find the real name for it in his mind.

"It's a miale, possibly a cousin of the gundark but zoologists haven't been able to fully prove it. Average height of about .7 meters, width of about 1.3 meters. Diet consists of…"

"OK, OK. You know the animal. I didn't need the _Encyclopedia Coruscanta _entry for it."

Jorec stifled a small chuckle and continued walking. These walks through the forests were supposed to be an orientation to the wilderness and the animals in it. Jorec was bored with having to recite old news he had learned during his two years in the wilderness following the betr… No, he refused to think of it, refused to bring up the still painful subject.

_It's funny, _Jorec thought, _I have all this information about this area that I'm not supposed to have. What would I not give to not have this info though? It's self-defeating… I can't wait until this training portion is over, all of this redundant information is making my head hurt._

Jorec threw his leaf-covered jacket on a chair as he entered his apartment, and collapsed on the soft couch. Slight pain erupted from his back, the victim of a nasty spill he had taken that afternoon. His eyes closed as he slipped into a meditative trance, one of the few "Jedi" things he still continued to use.

Peace entered his mind, a sense of calm seemingly permeated the room as he continued to meditate. All of his attention focused inward upon himself, and everything else disappeared. The sound of the couple next door arguing disappeared, his ears only picked up his own breathing.

Time seemed to have no meaning in his meditative trance, and Jorec remained motionless on the floor, lost in the Force.

A feminine voice sounded throughout the room, saying something that Jorec couldn't make it. His eyes snapped open, and scanned the room. The voice had been near, seemingly coming right beside him. The living room was empty save for himself, and all checks of the other rooms proved useless.

"Another vision, but what's the purpose of this one? Female voices I can't even understand…"

_Damn, this thing weighs a lot!_

Jorec slowly walked along the path, a backpack on his back stuffed with anything that would give him a hard time; several days worth of food, an emergency first-aide kit, a few days worth of extra clothes. A tent was strapped to the backpack, adding several more pounds to his equipment. A long blaster carbine hung from his left shoulder and a canteen noisily banged against his right leg.

He looked to his left side at the middle-aged man several feet in front of him. Dressed in hunting clothes that were probably more expensive than they were practical and carrying an equally expensive hunting rifle, the man was flanked by other members of his family dressed in the same style. Behind him, Jorec could hear the family's servants carry the backpacks that must have been as heavy as his, as well as their own supplies.

At least they had to pay for the servants on this trip too. Force forbid they have to carry their own supplies… 

Gregory stopped the group as the midday sun shone brightly upon them.

"OK, here's a great spot. Let's set up camp here, and then we can go out and actually hunt."

One of the clients said something but Jorec, who was too busy setting up his own tent, didn't hear it.

_So, this is what a junior apprentice does, guard the camp while the others are out hunting._

Jorec had to slightly chuckle as he poked a stick in the fire, stirring up the flames and bringing more warmth towards him. He stared into the flames as they quickly began to consume the extra kindling he had placed on it.

Bored, Jorec checked out the device in his pocket. The others were about 1.5 kilometers from his position and moving away from him. Focusing on a burning piece of wood, he reached out with his mind and grabbed it. Staring intently at the inflamed stick, he slowly watched it move a few centimeters upward. He slowly rotated the stick 180˚ and watched as the grayish-red end broke off upon contact with another piece of burning wood. He raised the burning stick a few more centimeters before finally dropping it, causing it to fall back into the flames and turning the badly burned parts into shattered pieces of ash.

It was several hours before the main group returned from their hunt, bringing with them the already field-dressed carcass of a docile herbivore. It was a shape that Jorec knew well. In his years of surviving in the forest, Jorec had killed many of these creatures for food with his lightsaber. Now as he watched, the rich parade over the carcass that would more than likely be used as a trophy somewhere, he couldn't help but feel slightly ill. It was almost as if it was a waste of a life to him.

He helped Gregory hang the field dressed creature from a large tree, tying the creature's legs to a high branch far from the reach of natural predators.

"Hey, Greg. What happens to the rest of the creature, after they let the taxidermists make their trophy?"

For emphasis, Jorec pointed to the laughing tourists near the campfire.

"Well if they choose only to keep the head of the creature, which is pretty common, the remaining usable meat is usually donated to a charity in Gevest. Some fresh meat is certainly better than the nutrition paste they usually get."

His apartment had been empty for two days, and the feeling of emptiness persisted. Jorec walked into the kitchen and removed a piece of fruit from the conservator. A sigh escaped from him as he casually turned on some music that filled the room. The music of a Corellian band filled the room, casting a somber tone that matched Jorec's mood.

_I can only hope that any other potential survivors have adjusted to their new lives better than I have._

Somewhere else in the galaxy, a long-sought prey was finally found and was dragged out of his hiding place. And with a flash of a red blade, another survivor was found and soon joined most of the other Jedi in death.


	13. Chapter XII: I Want The Truth 13 BBY

**Chapter XII: I Want The Truth (13 BBY)**

In all these years, I've never really known the truth about what happened six years ago. I guess I didn't want to know what happened, remain blissfully ignorant. I guess I changed my mind when I finally figured out that I had to know the reasons why before I could ever put the events behind me. Even though I'd like to wish it all away, I will always be a Jedi.

The red bedspread on Jorec's bed was covered with several gray datapads. The two separate piles lay haphazardly upon the bed, divided between texts read and those Jorec still needed to look through. Near the head of the bed, head propped up by several pillows was Jorec.

"The Betrayal of the Jedi… Finally!"

Jorec scanned the text, and soon threw the datapad onto the pile of read pads. In all of the texts Jorec had read, no matter what publishing company and what planet the author had come from, the information was the same.

It was always the same thing. In the final days of the Clone Wars, the Jedi generals of the Clone Wars turned against the Republic, and a group of Jedi Masters attempted the assassination of Chancellor Palpatine. It was always the same lies, and no mention of the real way the Jedi had been wiped out. All it had said was that the traitorous cult had been hunted down by troops of the Empire.

Jorec shook his head at the pile of propaganda disguised as history that littered his bed. Despite the variety of sources; former Separatist, Republic, even neutral parties all had the same story about the end of the massive war. According to "history" the Jedi were traitors to the Republic, and had been wiped out along with the Separatist leadership by someone called Darth Vader. The few pictures of this slaughterer, filled Jorec with a sense of fear. The figure appeared to be over two meters tall, and was clad in black armor. A demonic looking helmet rested upon the figure's head, dark lenses covered where eyes should be, and only a small grate appeared where the mouth of a humanoid was supposed to be.

Jorec set the unsettling image on the far side of his bed, and looked at the top of his ceiling. The monster in the history texts exuded a sense of evil, an evil that saturated the book. It was the same type of feeling he got when he saw the Emperor on the holonews, the near nausea and the overwhelming feeling of dread that seemed to accompany the cloaked figure.

_Palpatine had something to do with it,_ Jorec thought. _Ever since I first saw that he had become the Emperor, I knew he had something to do with it. Why though? He was one of biggest supporters of the Jedi, him and Bail Organa. _

Jorec closed his eyes as he tried to put all of the pieces of the puzzle that he had together.

"OK, so according to all of the texts, the 'Jedi Betrayal' happened soon after General Grievous was killed. That seems to go quite well with my own experiences… A group of Jedi Masters then entered Palpatine's office and attempted to assassinate the Chancellor."

Jorec was perplexed at this statement. _A group of Jedi Masters…attempted to assassinate the Chancellor._ He analyzed it again, and found two major things wrong about it.

"Why would four members of the Jedi Council want to assassinate the Chancellor? Certainly not for rule of the Republic as the books say. And, even if they did, how could Palpatine survive such an attempt?"

A partial explanation came to Jorec's mind, an explanation derived from barely remembered rumors whispered among the other younglings at the Jedi Temple. There was another Sith Lord out there besides Dooku, and he or she had controlled the Senate. He had heard that the Jedi Masters had put this off as an attempt to create a rift between the Jedi and the Senate, but in hindsight it seemed so obvious.

All of the information swirled and connected inside of Jorec's head, and with a startled gasp the solution finally came into being.

"He's a kriffing Sith! But how could they miss it? How could they stand right next to him and not sense it?"

Anger turned to fear as the meaning of this revelation dawned on Jorec. The galaxy was once again under the command of a Sith, and now it seemed that almost all hope was lost for the galaxy. Jorec knew that the Jedi had been hunted down, and a list of names of those slain went through his head.

Windu, Fisto, Kenobi, Skywalker, Yoda, Vos, Drallig, they're all dead… They have to be. Wait a minute, didn't that old news report mention some survivors?

Jorec quickly sat up and rifled through the datapads until he found a dented pad. He activated the pad containing Holonet News: 16 Archive. The deformed face of the Emperor appeared before him, glowing a translucent blue and emitting from the datapad. He gestured towards the senators and continued speaking.

"The New Order of peace has triumphed over the shadowy secrecy of shameful magicians. The direction of our course is clear. I will lead the Empire to glories beyo…"

The Emperor stopped mid-word, silenced by the miracle of the "Back To Menu" button on the pad. The menu quickly surfaced on the screen, showing most of the articles that appeared six years ago. A long list of wanted posters appeared on the screen of the datapad, a few of the faces looked vaguely familiar to Jorec but the faces and the names didn't matter. It was the proof that really mattered, the proof that several other Jedi had survived the betrayal, final concrete proof that Jorec wasn't the only survivor. He had had his suspicions for years that others had survived, yet he finally had proof.

_Kai Justiss, Qu Rahn, Ranik Solusar… Those names sound vaguely familiar, don't recognize the other names though… At least they were alive six years ago, surely if I have survived they must have as well._

Jorec looked at the article again, and despite the hope that the names brought him, the lack of council members on the "Wanted" list disturbed him. Their absence seemed to indicate their death, or worse. He had heard stories of Jedi betraying the Order, indeed the Separatist leader Count Dooku had done just that several years before the start of the Clone Wars.

Jorec turned the datapad off and gathered the rest into a pile that he set upon a bookcase. Three weeks of research and he was barely above where he had started, yet the information he had was significant. The so-called "attempted assassination" of Palpatine by four members of the Jedi Council, the follow-up attempt on Palpatine's life in the Senate Chambers, the conclusion that Palpatine may be a Sith, the fact that there were others that survived the betrayal of the clones, and the near destruction of the Jedi Temple were all great findings for Jorec, yet he couldn't help but still ask why.


	14. Chapter XIII: The Meeting 10 BBY

**Chapter XIII: The Meeting (10 BBY)**

The streets of Gevest buzzed with activity as the mid-day rush hurried about the city. Landspeeders traveled barely a meter above the paved streets, sending the hum of repulsorlifts through the busy avenues. The whine of airspeeders drifted from above as several of the richer members of the community bustled about to their offices. A plethora of humans walked by on the streets, dressed in the typical clothes of university students, and massed towards various eateries placed around a nearby square.

Jorec Merridon, dressed in a simple camouflaged outfit, also walked among the throng of humans. He quietly scanned the crowd in front of him, even nine years after that dreadful day he was still heavily cautious. Also in the last eight years another thing had become painfully obvious to Jorec, the rarity of non-humans. Life at the Jedi Temple had been filled with various species of alien sentients; Jorec's own Rancor Clan was primarily alien with only three humans to the fifteen youngling class. Now in the New Order of Emperor Palpatine, Jorec had heard that terrible things were happening to those who weren't born human. The holographic trophy wall at the hunting lodge was a major piece of evidence for the rumors that were going around. Several pictures dating from the Pre-Empire years were an even mixture of human and alien, and all those after the first Empire Day were composed of 95 humans.

The sounds of commerce grew louder as Jorec neared his destination. The 89th Street Bookstore was soon visible over the crowd of people, a favorite location for Jorec ever since his first trip into Gevest five years previously. The light red painted durasteel building was also a favorite of students at the local university, and a few students could be seen entering the store ahead.

Jorec entered the store and viewed the rows of datapads stored on several shelves, and noticed the old Toydarian shopkeeper sitting at his usual place near the entrance to the store. Jorec looked at the red-skinned Toydarian and noticed a glum look on his face.

"What's the matter, Kraat? Not making a lot of profit?"

"Not too little profit, too much," said the Toydarian with a scowl.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

A look of disgust crossed Kraat's face as he related the tale.

"Non-human tax the local Moff has enacted. A large percent of my profit goes directly to his pockets! Back when the Republic was around, this never happened to me. Just a week ago my brother had to declare bankruptcy after his restaurant was taxed to death."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Kraat…"

Kraat quickly flew up from his chair, short wings beating furiously and his middle finger angrily poking Jorec in the chest.

"You are sorry! You are the one profiting from this New Order! You may say you feel sorry for the non-humans that are oppressed, but is anything being done about it?"

The angry Toydarian noticed the stares of the other patrons and quickly stopped his rant. He threw his three fingered hands in air and addressed the crowd.

"Go on, go on. Continue about your business, keep looking for the datapad your looking for!"

"And drive me out of business…" the Toydarian added under his breath.

Kraat flew angrily and somewhat erratically into the backroom of the store, bumping into a shelf and sending its displayed datapads tumbling onto the floor below it. Jorec and the rest of the shoppers in the store looked at the swinging door to the backroom in shock. After the shock came the rumble of confused conversation from the majority of the crowd. A woman's voice rose above the clamor of the crowd, trying to calm the masses down.

"OK, OK, let's break it up. Go back to whatever you were doing previously."

From behind a shelf to Jorec's left came the speaker, she was dressed in the standard blue shirt uniform that the humanoid employees of the store all wore. She had brown hair that flowed down to her shoulders and brown eyes that caught Jorec's attention. A strange feeling came over Jorec, even though he had never seen this woman before she seemed strangely familiar to him.

The crowd dispersed from around the store counter and once again went about their business throughout the rest of the store. Jorec, however, remained standing next to the counter and watched as the woman took over for the missing Toydarian.

"What exactly happened to Kraat?"

The woman looked up from her work and shook her head.

"I assume you heard him yell about the Non-Human Tax? Well, his payment is due tomorrow and we're all wondering how he's going to come up with the money to pay it. The other employees and I have heard that he's squandered away most of his profits in some investment that never panned out like it was supposed to. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to clean up the mess he made."

The woman kneeled on the ground and began collecting the many fallen datapads that lay scattered on the blue carpet. Jorec looked at her, and wondered where he could have possibly seen her before.

"Do you need any help picking those up? It was kind of my fault after all."

She motioned for him to come forward to help her, and shook her head at his last comment.

"Don't worry about it. He would have snapped at somebody eventually today, probably me. I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner, he's been under a lot of stress lately."

Jorec began picking up a few of the scattered datapads next to him and placed them in a neat stack next to the stack that she had created. Jorec stole a glance at the woman as he continued to pick up the datapads on the floor. Jorec decided to strike up a small conversation with the woman.

"I don't think I've seen you in here before. Are you new here?"

Jorec put another datapad on his pile and waited for her answer all the while hoping that he wouldn't sound like an idiot in front of her.

"I've only been working here for about three weeks, haven't seen you in here either. Although Kraat keeps talking about you coming in every week and buying something."

Jorec looked slightly confused at her words.

"He does?"

"Yeah, you're…" She pauses for a second as she tries to recall his name. "Joren Merridon?"

"Close, it's actually Jorec."

"Sorry about that. I'm Lia Garent."

"Nice to meet you Lia."

Lia moved to pick up a datapad that had fallen into one of the main counter's shelves. Jorec saw her crack a smile as she reached for something on the shelf.

"I think we found another reason why he's so cross today."

She pulled a flask of brownish liquid from the shelf, and sniffed at the contents. A look of revulsion flashed across her face as the fumes hit her nostrils.

"That's another reason all right. Do me a favor and dump this stuff in 'fresher."

She handed the bottle of potent Toydarian Liquor to Jorec, who quickly complied.

Haller Surool's face formed out of the small holoprojector near Jorec's couch.

"Jorec, how have you been?"

"I've been doing OK, tell your wife that I'm finally learning how to trust more people."

"That's good, I'll tell her."

"In fact, that's what I'm calling you about… You see there's this woman I've met."

Haller smiled at this news.

"Good for you! And six years ago you thought it would be near impossible to actually live a normal life. How long have you known her?"

"About five weeks, I met her at the 89th Street Bookstore in Gevest. I'm very interested in her, and I think she's interested in me."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't know, it just feels like she is. Now, the main question I have is this: how do I ask her out on a date? And where do we go if she accepts?"

"The first part is easy, though it probably sounds way too easy. Just ask her to go out with you somewhere. By the way, she isn't dating anybody else is she?"

"I'm pretty sure that she isn't. And it's that easy?"

"It is. Now as to your other question, just take her to a nice restaurant somewhere in Gevest."

"That's it!"

"Yep."

"Thanks Mr. Surool. See you and the rest of your family at the next holiday."

Jorec turned the holoprojector off and shook his head.

"I've participated in a battle of the Clone Wars, but I'm scared to death of asking a girl out on a date…"

It was six weeks after he had first met Lia Garent in the bookstore where she worked, and as Jorec slowly walked from the public garage to the store he felt the nausea created by his nervous state begin to kick in. He tried a Jedi calming technique he had learned at the Temple many years ago, but somehow he had the feeling that the technique had never quite been used like this before. He opened the door and walked into the store, hoping that everything would work out for him or at least that the rejection wouldn't be that painful.

He walked out of the bookstore a happy man, perhaps more happy than he had been ever since the traumatic betrayal of the clone troopers he had experienced. The nauseous feeling in his stomach had been silent ever since Lia had agreed to a date one week from that day, and for once Jorec felt normal…


	15. Chapter XIV: A Normal Life?

**Chapter XIV: A Normal Life?**

The landspeeder cruised along a near empty street of Gevest as its driver frantically checked the chrono in front of him. The red vehicle slightly skidded in mid-air as it's nervous driver took a right turn a little too fast. The skid would have probably caused a normal driver to spin out of control, but the occupant of this vehicle wasn't normal. His quick reflexes managed to right the car onto its correct course on the expressway.

"I can't believe I'm running late! Of all the days for a major crash on the way to Gevest… Makes me wish I had an airspeeder instead."

Jorec Merridon slowed his landspeeder down and prepared to turn as he reached his exit, hoping that his haste to make it in time would actually pay off. He quickly checked the device on the dashboard of his landspeeder as his destination approached too slowly for his liking. He nervously checked the chrono again, and let out a curse when he realized that his speedy efforts were in vain. Even though he had managed to get a hold of Lia when he had encountered the wreck on the way into Gevest, he had a feeling that showing up late to a first date was not a good way to start a potential relationship.

A row of apartment buildings finally alerted Jorec to his impending arrival, and Jorec was amazed at them as they raised twelve stories above the ground. To Jorec, this was one of the tallest buildings meant for habitation he had seen since Coruscant. He parked his vehicle in one of the few empty parking spaces in the parking garage adjacent to the building, and silently cursed his luck as he was forced to park near the very top of the garage.

"I have a feeling she's not going to be happy," Jorec said as he hastily walked to the lift. "Could this get any worse?"

_It's worse,_ Jorec thought as he stared at the interior of the first floor hallway. _It's worse because I have definitely seen this layout somewhere before. _Jorec reached the lift and hesitated as the door opened, remembering the ominous dreams of his life being in danger in a hallway extremely similar to this one.

He started to turn around and head back out of the door, head back out of the door and never return to this place. He took a step towards the entrance of the building and stopped.

Jorec immediately thought about how ridiculous he looked as he pondered events of a possible future in the middle of a hallway and in front of a closing elevator. Despite them being events of a possible future, Jorec thought, they still should be heeded.

"I'm just paranoid," Jorec said under his breath as he turned around to quickly stop the elevator's door from closing. "It's just that I've never really willingly trusted another person before."

He entered the elevator and watched as the doors closed around his last chance to return to a life of paranoia and loneliness. Despite of the visions of danger he had had previously, Jorec felt surprisingly good about his decision.

The elevator doors opened up to the second floor a few seconds later and Jorec quickly walked into the hallway. He steadily moved throughout the hallway until he reached Apartment 249. He hesitantly raised his hand and chimed the doorbell, hoping once again that he wouldn't make a fool out of himself somehow and that she wasn't that mad about him being late. A few seconds passed by, making Jorec even more nervous, before the door finally opened revealing a nicely dressed Lia Garent.

Jorec lowered his head as head as he saw the look of displeasure on her face. "I'm sorry I'm late, Lia. Traffic on the way over here, and the parking situation here."

"Let's just go," Lia said as she closed her apartment door and walked out into the hallway.

From her tone of voice, Jorec had a feeling that he didn't make that much of an impression on his first date. He mentally cursed himself as he led her to the elevator. If the way this date started was going to be any indication of the rest of it, Jorec had a bad feeling about the rest of the day.

"So, have you been on Selvernos long?" Lia asked as she cut the meat on her plate into an edible size.

Jorec paused slightly, quickly remembering the cover story he had invented for himself several years previously. The perfect mix of facts and half-truths that blended into a story that was almost never a full truth, and never was a complete lie.

"Not really," Jorec said after taking a drink of water from the glass in front of him. "My family moved here from Coruscant when I was about 13."

Lia suppressed a laugh after hearing this. "What made them want to move out of the core and into the Outer Rim?"

"The Clone Wars mainly. After a droid starfighter crashed into our house, they thought it really wasn't safe on the planet anymore." Jorec said.

"So, they moved onto a planet with a battle raging on it?" Lia asked, thinking of the possible insanity Jorec's parents must have been going through to go from one hotspot to another.

Jorec chuckled as he mentally cursed himself for this plothole in his cover story. "Nobody said they had good choices in places to live!"

"I'd agree with that. So, you don't like Selvernos?"

Jorec shook his head at her question. "It's not that, it just wasn't a very good place to live at the time. Thankfully, Mt. Sentiss was far removed from the actual battle itself. What about you, have you lived on Selvernos long?"

"All my life," Lia said before eating a piece of the meat. "Lived in Gevest my whole life, too."

"And attended the University here?"

Lia nodded. "Yeah, graduated a little over a year ago. Only reason I'm working in Kraat's store is that there are no jobs currently available in my field at the moment. And there hasn't been for about two years! Can you imagine spending most of your life training for something, and having the skills you learned be useless?"

_That sounds very familiar_, Jorec thought as he swallowed some type of green vegetable from the Mid-Rim. "Yeah, I think I can emphasize with that."

Lia continued talking for a few seconds before abruptly stopping. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

"No, no, no. It's OK. I'm not usually a very talkative person anyway," Jorec replied.

"Well, you do work for the hunting tourism company… What's that like?" Lia asked as she tried to steer the conversation Jorec's way.

"It's interesting to say the least," Jorec replied after taking another drink of water. "A few days ago, one of the guests wandered off without her beacon."

"What happened to her?"

"She ended being all right, it just took about four hours for me to find her. It's an OK job with an OK paycheck."

"What did your parents think about it when you entered? I think you mentioned that you started that job when you were kind of young."

"It was fine for my mother," Jorec said. He felt slightly uncomfortable having to bring up the next half-truth that was coming up, despite it being partially true it still felt like he was lying to her about his past. It was also necessary, he thought, he needed some reason to explain the emotional scars he still had when they would eventually come up. "My father was murdered soon after we moved here."

A look of concern crossed over Lia's face. "I'm sorry, Jorec. I didn't know."

"It's OK, I just don't like to talk about it much."

The sun was setting behind the distant skyline of Gevest, and one of Selvernos' moons was faintly showing in the eastern sky as Jorec's landspeeder stopped in front of the apartment building. Jorec watched as Lia opened the door of the speeder and stepped outside.

"So, you'll call me in about a week?" Lia asked as she reached to shut the door.

"A little earlier, I have a group I have to lead through the forest," Jorec replied. "I really enjoyed talking to you tonight."

"So did I, see you soon." Lia shut the door on the landspeeder with a smile and walked into the building. Jorec waited until she entered the building safely before driving off.

As he accelerated his landspeeder onto the highway back to his home near Mt. Sentiss, Jorec had to think about his first date. Despite the bad beginning with him running late and the severe déjà vu of entering the apartment complex, it seemed that the rest of the date moved pretty smoothly.

_I wish I didn't have to lie to her_, Jorec thought as he pulled into the parking lot near his apartment about fifteen minutes later. _All that stuff about my true past, I wish she didn't have to hear half-truths and certain points of view. If we do start a nice relationship, I would eventually have to tell her the real truth. How would she react? How would I react if someone I cared about revealed that most of what they told me wasn't really true? I swear, sometimes I still wish I wasn't born Force-sensitive…_


	16. Chapter XV

**Chapter XV: The Calm Before The Storm (9 BBY)**

The once short grass had grown into thick underbrush that seemingly devoured the heavily weathered permacrete buildings that had been left abandoned to Selvernos' elements for a standard decade. Cracks were appearing along the walls, and chunks that had been made before the building's abandonment had doubled in size. One support beam to the building was completely destroyed, both by the events of a decade earlier and the exposure to the temperate climate. It now lay in rubble on the ground, several indigenous insects nesting under it.

If he had his way, Jorec would have never seen this place again. The memories of that day rushed into his mind; the sound of the blaster fire still echoed through the clearing, the hum of lightsabers as they moved to deflect the oncoming bolts, the sound of the impact of a blaster bolt on humanoid flesh, the sound of a question being asked about the area…

"So this is it?" asked a blonde-haired woman in her mid-twenties. "This was the main base of operations during the Battle of Selvernos?"

Jorec turned away from the ruins to look at the speaker and her companion. They were tourists, interested in hunting the game animals in the forest like many were, and interested in the ruins of old Republic base that once housed the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. The base had a few fans in the galaxy; historians and history buffs.

"Is it safe to actually go in the base?" asked the woman's husband.

Jorec froze for a moment. "I honestly have no idea whether it is or not. I've never actually been here before, and those who have been here have only really surveyed the exterior of the building." _And add to that the fact that I really don't want to be here any longer than I have to,_ Jorec added mentally.

The "couple" sat in their shared tent almost a kilometer away from the ruins of the old base. Twilight had come across the planet a few hours previously, and with it both parties had retired to their separate tents.

"So, what do you think?" asked the woman, keeping her voice low so no one outside of the tent could hear what was being said inside. Out of her bag she pulled a datapad and thumbed it on.

"I went to check ten minutes ago, it appears that he's already asleep," the red-haired man replied.

"Good, we can't have him listen in on us and turn us in the local authorities. Now, about the planet…"

"Very little Imperial presence, just like the early intelligence said, many places we could hide the important stuff."

"What about the base, do you think it's safe enough to convert to our own needs?" asked the woman as she thumbed the datapad to life, bringing up a blue representation of the base in its original condition from the holoprojector.

The man shrugged. "I don't know, our guide seems reluctant to even be around the place let alone in it. Based on the outward appearance of the area, it seems OK to be around. A few patches to exterior support beams and it should be good to go. We'll have to provide our own hangar for the Y-wings, however. It seems that the Empire didn't leave much behind when they left the planet."

"Their efficient, I'll give them that. As for our guide, the people at the headquarters said he's one of the best they have, I have no idea why he's so skittish around the area. At least we know how to get here from Gevest so we can go in ourselves after we get back."

"Well, it appears as there aren't many other options to fully explore the area. That'll have to do…"

The _Imperial_-class Star Destroyer drifted above the obscure Mid-Rim planet that had once housed a run-down rebel base, its former staff now enclosed within various detention cells inside the monstrous hull.

With a hiss, the door to one of these cells opened swiftly to reveal a human male clad in a black uniform walking out of the cell. He was followed by a spherical droid floating less than half a meter behind him. He turned to a nearby officer, clad in a dark gray uniform, and snapped a salute.

"Report on your findings of interrogating the prisoner, lieutenant."

The black-clad man made a short motion to the droid behind him. "Captain, most of the prisoners were able to briefly fight the truth serum. However, the one we just finished with was more susceptible than the others were."

"Did he divulge the location of the leaders?"

The subordinate nodded. "Yes sir, the leaders of this cell recently traveled to the Outer Rim in search of a new hideout. Looks like they were a little late," he jokingly added. The expression of the captain remained untouched. "He said that they are currently located on Selvernos…"

The captain of the Star Destroyer nodded his head and reached for his comlink. "Thank you lieutenant, the Emperor will be most pleased with yet another band of rebels put to the blade."

Three days later, Jorec's red landspeeder cruised down the road nearing Lia's apartment complex. Despite the beautiful woman in the seat next to him, Jorec's mind was preoccupied with something else at the moment.

During the past year, Jorec and Lia's relationship had blossomed. However he knew that he would have to eventually tell her the truth about his past. There was another thought running in his brain as well, when and how was he going to propose to her? He had been thinking about it for a little over a month, gauging their relationship in his mind and getting advice from the few friends he had, before finally deciding to ask her to marry him.

Beside him Lia stretched her legs out in front of her seat, bringing Jorec out of his thoughts of the future and into the present.

"Something wrong, Jorec?" she asked as she turned to look at him as he continued to drive.

"Nope, everything's all right. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About what happened on the last hunt, those were some really weird people I had to act as a guide for," Jorec replied as he turned off of the highway and onto a main street. "They seemingly had no interest in hunting at all, they just wanted to hang around the old Clone Wars battleground."

"History buffs probably. You wouldn't believe the amount of people who frequented that section of Kraat's…"

"Yeah, I would," Jorec laughed. "I was one of them about three years before we met." Jorec snorted in disgust. "Enough of them, I won't let a bunch of weird off-worlders ruin our time together."

Lia nodded her head. "I like that idea. So, the day after tomorrow is when you're free again?"

Jorec mentally mapped out his schedule; a short one day hunting trip with some local politician (and about a dozen assorted holojournalists) who's trying to show the rural voters that he's a man of the outdoors, and then a rare off-time of ten days. "Yeah, got a small publicity stunt I have to be an unwilling part of. Politics…"

A few moments passed in silence until Lia moved slightly closer to Jorec, putting her left arm on his shoulder. "I love you Jorec," she whispered.

He stole a brief glance at her and smiled. "I love you too, Lia." _And something better than that_, he mentally added. _I trust you. And you really need to know the real truth about me. Next time we see each other, I'm going to tell you the truth. Just please don't kill me…_

The apartment complex loomed in the distance now, showing up in the darkness as several beacons of light from occupied rooms. He turned the landspeeder into the parking lot of the building, and pulled up beside the main entrance.

"Well, I'll see you in a few days," Jorec said as he turned his head to face Lia. He brought his face down to hers and gently kissed her.

"Jorec," Lia said as she broke the kiss. "Would you like to come inside for a while?"

The halls near Jorec's apartment echoed with the sound of eight pairs of plastoid boots as the wearers marched towards their target. While the information provided by one weak-willed rebel had lead them to the planet and their mission, the rebel leaders had so far eluded them. The hallway lights reflected off of their white armor and the cold black of their E-11's as they approached their only lead so far, the person who had lead the leaders into the wilderness.

Despite the late hour, a few curious residents dared to sneak a peek at the source of the commotion, only to flee back into the safety of their homes after gazing into the black eyes of the helmeted soldiers.

SC-84 ordered his troops to a stop outside of the apartment, and stared at the door. He silently hoped that the two rebel leaders were in there, and a quick promotion would be bestowed upon him.

"Twelve," he said as he turned to another member of his squad. "Open that door, we'll cover you." He motioned to the four Stormtroopers closest to him, who quickly raised their rifles towards the door.

SC-12 pulled out a piece of computer hardware from his utility belt and placed it over the small keypad next to the door. Within a few seconds, the task was done.

"Be alert men! Twelve, open the door."

The slicer Stormtrooper nodded and pulled out his own blaster rifle. He then pressed the button, and replaced the hardware back onto his utility belt.

The four Stormtroopers watched as the door opened, and the three human recruits breathed a sigh of relief as no enemy blaster fire came pouring out of it. With their guns raised and ready to fire at the first sign of enemy movement, the eight Stormtroopers cautiously moved into the apartment. What little light from Selvernos' moons entered the apartment was picked up by light enhancers in their helmets, giving them the edge over any rebel that may have been hiding in the room.

"Sir, the apartment appears to be empty, and our backup team isn't picking up anything unusual over the civilian communications," said SC-12 as he walked up to his commanding officer.

SC-84 nodded and addressed his troops. "Five, Twenty-three, and Sixteen; check the kitchen and refreshers to make sure. Eleven, Three, and Eight; make sure no one's hiding in the bedroom. Twelve, have the backup team jam all non-military communications in a five-block radius. If no one's here, I want this place thoroughly searched for any signs of any anti-Imperial propaganda. We may have caught them out of this place, and I don't want them to be alerted."

His crew acknowledged their orders and went about the apartment to complete them. SC-84 began to search through the living room on his own, throwing some holos of a young woman to the floor as he checked datapads on a bookstand nearby. No sign of anti-Imperial propaganda, in fact it was completely the opposite. Most of the datapads on the shelf were decidedly pro-Imperial historical texts of the Clone Wars, several them detailing the Jedi Rebellion that had nearly taken the life of the glorious Emperor.

Several minutes passed until the unmistakably Fett accent of SC-8 came in over his intercom.

"Sir, we've been searching the bedroom of this place and we found something very interesting hidden here…"

SC-84 walked quickly into the bedroom of the place, where he found Eight holding a metallic cylinder.

"Sir, is this what I think it is?" asked the Stormtrooper as he handed his find to the commanding officer.

SC-84 pressed a button on the side of the cylinder, causing the object to fire to life with a snap-hiss. The room was then bathed in a blue light as the lightsaber activated.

"Backup team, this is SC-84. Alert the Captain, I think we may have a major discovery on our hands…"


	17. Chapter XVI

Chapter XVI 

Blackness filled Jorec's senses, at the moment it was everything. The air around him was frigid, the cold bit into his flesh. The feeling of despair permeated the dark atmosphere, filling Jorec with dread.

In his mind he could hear the lessons of a philosophy class inside of the Jedi Temple, the aged Rodian Jedi Master speaking in his slightly accented voice about the various cultural beliefs about the afterlife. At this moment, Jorec couldn't help but feel that this resembled one of the many afterlives reserved for the wicked.

The ground beneath his feet began to shake, sending vibrations up his legs to the rest of his body. Then a sudden tilt threw Jorec off balance, and into the black.

He awoke to a room that was still dark, but slivers of light that had managed to escape the blinds illuminated the room. The only sound in the room was the quiet sound of Lia breathing as she slept, and the passing of a few speeders on the street outside.

Jorec slowly raised his body, careful not to disturb her as he attempted to get a view of the chrono on the nearby nightstand. He mentally cursed as the red numerals quickly changed to 0327, it was far too early in the morning.

As he lay back down, he thought about how typical it was for him to have another nightmare at this time. They had mainly occurred at some significant time in his life, even though they had greatly diminished in the past three years. He was told that they were most likely caused by a subconscious guilt over having survived the attacks while so many others had perished, and now for breaking the Code that had defined him as a young child. And for the most part, he believed that.

Yet, despite his attempts at reassuring himself, he still felt a little uneasy over the events portrayed in the dream.

SC-84 stared at the surveillance equipment in a living room that had been hastily converted into a command center a few hours ago. Communications equipment manned by a black uniformed officer occupied a corner that had once housed an entertainment center, a caf table once loaded with datapads containing textbooks of the children now lay overturned in a corner, in its place was the screens that the commander was watching.

The family that had once considered this place a home now sat traumatized in the master bedroom, locked in the room and guarded by two Stormtroopers. Guarded against any possible sabotage they could commit against this operation, any distraction that could spell certain doom to the soldiers stationed within the apartment.

The commander of the operation continued to look at the surveillance equipment providing views of both the hallway as well as scenes from every room in his target's apartment. All screens showed no activity at all, and the thought began to creep into his mind that the apartment had been abandoned, his glory for capturing a potential Jedi and two rebel leaders would never happen.

"Sir, incoming transmission from the _Banesclaw,_" said the communications officer, snapping SC-84 from his thoughts. "According to the summary, it's regarding our new rules of engagement on this operation." 

Jorec quickly rushed from his speeder and into the complex that contained his apartment, trying to reach it in time. He had only two hours to get ready for the political appearance thinly disguised as a legitimate trip, and with the security measures that were surely going to be in place, those two hours really translated into a little over an hour and a half. He threw open the door and made a left turn down the hall, unable to notice the security cameras watching him as he made his way down the corridor.

SC-84 watched as his target entered the apartment that had been the scene of a nine-hour stakeout, and sighed with relief. "It's about damn time. Get ready everybody, and remember the rules of engagement. We don't want another 'incident' on our hands."

The assembled eleven Stormtroopers nodded and quickly checked their blaster rifles, knowing the price of failure.

"Now, we have his lightsaber so he shouldn't be that big of a threat to us, but I want each and every one of you to be cautious. Underestimating our opponent can get all of us killed. Squad One; you go in first. Squad Two will follow you in a few seconds later. The rest of us will be waiting in case things get too bad in there."

With a quick salute, the six Stormtroopers moved out of the room and into the hall, ready for their mission.

"I've been robbed," Jorec said in disbelief as he looked at his trashed living room. Holos were strewn across the floor, datapads were in disarray on their shelves and various other objects were far from their original places. He quickly peeked back out into the hall, searching for any sign of tampering with the keypad.

It was then that he saw them, six creatures that had haunted his nightmares for years. Pure white armor, a mask that hid any sign of individuality of the wearer, and the compact blaster rifles that were about to be aimed directly at him. They walked out of an apartment five doors down, and immediately spotted him.

Jorec quickly darted back into his apartment, fumbling with the inside lock trying to buy a few seconds. He raced towards his bedroom, nearly tripping on an overturned chair. He gasped as he entered the bedroom, amazed at the thorough mess that had been created in there as well. Clothes were scattered on the floor, and with a sinking feeling he saw that his primary plan for getting out of this mess was gone. Lying on the floor next to the drawer that held it, was the false bottom that had once hid his lightsaber.

He could hear the front door slide open, and knew that it would be seconds before they would be upon him. Twenty-three years had gone by way too fast for Jorec, and the certainty dawned upon him that he had only merely delayed this moment for ten years. Yet he was determined not to make it easy on them…

Jorec ran to his closet, hoping that the troops had left one thing untouched. Feeling around the area above the doorframe, he felt the cold metal of a blaster pistol. He glanced down at the pistol, quickly checking the condition. He slid the energy cell into the pistol, and quickly raced to the door.

The Stormtroopers were at the end of the hall, rifles raised in front of them. Taking cover behind the door to his bedroom, Jorec quickly squeezed off a shot at the leader of the six troopers. The red bolt soared through the hallway and connected with the leader near his right breastbone, causing the armor to slightly explode and sending the body down onto the floor. Two of the Stormtroopers slammed into the door into the refresher, taking cover as another shot impacted into the wall. The other three Stormtroopers fired towards their attacker as they retreated out of the hall. Blue rings dissipated as they hit the wall.

Jorec leaned back into the hall, providing a slight opening for the five Stormtroopers to take. With Force-assisted reflexes, Jorec was barely able to dodge back into his cover watching as the blue rings hit the opposite doorframe. Jorec risked another glance from his cover, and quickly fired off a shot that impacted with the wall hiding a Stormtrooper. His second shot was more accurate, slamming into the white helmet of a soldier that had come out from his cover to fire a shot. The dead clone fell to the ground, nearly causing the trooper behind him to tumble into the line of fire.

A blue ring emerged from a Stormtrooper's rifle from the refresher door, traveling the nearly three meters to Jorec's arm. Jorec's right arm grew numb as the blast hit it, and he heard the thud of his blaster pistol landing on the ground. Jorec frantically attempted to pick up the blaster with his left hand, but a volley of shots forced him to reconsider.

"He's hit! Move in," said one of the Stormtroopers who had used the refresher as cover during the brief firefight. The temporary leader stepped out from behind his cover and urged the three remaining Stormtroopers to follow him as he marched towards Jorec's bedroom.

Jorec quickly backed away from door, his right arm dangling uselessly at his side. He ran to the window, cursing himself for not trying to escape this way previously. He tried to raise the window using his left hand, but he was not fast enough. He turned around to face the intruders, fear in his eyes. The Stormtroopers raised their rifles and fired, blue energy raced towards Jorec. The shots connected with their target, sending Jorec into darkness.


	18. Chapter XVII

**Chapter XVII**

The fog in his head slowly cleared twelve hours later as Jorec awoke in the detention cell of the _Banesclaw_. The cold slab of durasteel that served as a poor excuse for a bed added to the pounding in his head. He sat up slowly, afraid that one false move could send him back into unconsciousness. He blinked his eyes to adjust them to the dim light of the small room, rubbing his temples with his right hand.

Jorec looked around the rectangular room, noticing the dull gray walls that extended less than two meters from the middle of the room and the seams of the door that occupied a corner. Opposite of the door was a small refresher unit, one seemingly designed for discomfort.

After focusing on the world around him, Jorec quickly took a small inventory of himself. He was dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, a horrendous outfit that was probably used to quickly find prisoners in case of a mass escape. Although the metal wristband around his right wrist probably served the same purpose. He swung his body to the edge of the cot, allowing his legs to hit the ground and feeling the cold durasteel of the floor on his bare feet.

He tried to stand, using his arms to push off of the confines of the bed. His head once again began to swim as he moved to his feet. Halfway up, his knees buckled under his weight, sending Jorec falling to the ground. He attempted to catch himself on the wall, but his hands could find no purchase on the hard wall. Pain rushed up from his left side as he hit the floor.

The monitors inside of the control room flared to life as Prisoner #22043 awoke from his long slumber, causing the two young officers inside to glance up from their card game. The older officer, only 27 years old, glanced at the monitors as a small alarm blared throughout the room.

"Looks like our most recent addition has regained consciousness," he said as he walked over to the consoles. He sat down in the chair and brought up the profile.

"What's the alarm for then?" asked the younger officer as he placed his cards on the table. He walked toward the consoles, but not before taking a quick peek at his commanding officer's cards on the table. He smiled at the hand and then continued to the computers on the far wall.

"They normalize the readings for when they're stunned," the older officer explained. "When they regain consciousness, the computer registers a change far beyond the norm. A little security precaution."

A few quick keystrokes later, the alarms were silenced.

"Well, I notified the captain and the ship's medical officer about his condition. They should down here shortly."

"So, what do you think?" the younger officer asked. "Is he really a Jedi?"

The older officer shrugged his shoulders at the question. "To tell the truth, I really don't know. That's up for the others to decide."

Jorec watched as the doors of his cell opened extremely quickly, and watched as two gray-clad officers walked into the room. The blank expressions on their faces filled Jorec with a sense of dread, and the humming sound of the interrogation droid floating into the room didn't help matters much either. As all three of his interrogators entered the room, the gray door quickly snapped shut.

He gradually opened his eyes, body still ringing from the pain and his mind still filled with the shame of having given in so quickly. He had hoped to hold out as long as he could, hoped that if he just kept repeating the lies he had used a background story they would eventually believe him. He had failed…

"You did not fail," came a familiar voice from somewhere in the room. "After all, who were you really hiding your Jedi heritage from? Was it the Empire, or was it yourself?"

Jorec didn't even bother looking for the owner of the voice, knowing that doing so would only result in failure. "You knew about this didn't you? You knew that I would be captured!" he weakly exclaimed.

"Yes, I did," The Voice replied, a hint of sadness in his voice. "And if I had tried to tell you, would you have even listened?"

"Probably not," Jorec whispered. "What… What are they going to do with me? Kill me like the others?"

"Something worse, they plan on making you one of them."

"Like that would ever happen," Jorec spit out. "I remember what they did!"

"So did many others, but they fell to the Dark Side just to save their own lives." The Voice now came from Jorec's right side, as if the owner had walked around the room. "I tried to help them, advise them, but they would not listen."

"They're going to do something to make me angry, angry enough to reach out to the Dark Side of the Force," Jorec said. He began to think about how they would do this, and then found the answer. "Lia! Is she safe, have they found her?"

"She will be fine. They don't even know of her existence."

"How is that possible? There were holos of her and I in my apartment, they couldn't have missed those!"

"Those holos are now destroyed. One lone Stormtrooper apparently had a heart and knew what they were going to do. There is no evidence of your relationship that currently exists."

"What do you know," Jorec said. "Some of them are actually human…"

"All of them are human," The Voice replied. "Even the clones."

"So, they'll try to turn me into what Vader is and they'll fail. I assume that they would kill me after that?" Jorec asked The Voice.

"More than likely, they will."

"Just tell me one thing," Jorec said as the pain began to dim. "Will she have a good life?"

"To tell you the truth, I really don't know about that."

"Now I know for sure you're not a product of my imagination," Jorec joked.

He once again sat up on the durasteel cot, rubbing his head with his hands. He looked in the general direction of where The Voice seemed to be coming from, and continued to see nothing but the blank wall.

Five days later, the slight shudder of the _Banesclaw _reverting out of hyperspace wakened the lightly sleeping Jorec. As he stared up at the ceiling of the cell that he was in, thinking that his end would soon come. In his mind, he darkly thought that it would be nice to see Coruscant again after ten years of living on Selvernos. Yet he knew that he wouldn't be able to take the grand tour of what was now called Imperial Center, and that nothing on that planet would probably be familiar.

When they dragged him out of his cell, Jorec was able to see that the planet the Star Destroyer was orbiting was certainly not Coruscant. The planet was decidedly less urban, with only small specks of lights coming off of the surface. Otherwise, the planet was a mixture of different climate zones. Off in the distance he could see the blocky shape of a prison ship also orbiting the planet.

* * *

The warden of cellblock #5220 on the Imperial prison ship _Interrogator_ looked over his list of prisoners as his assistants put away all of the seized evidence. The list was composed mainly of political prisoners; a few rebels, collaborators, dissidents and the like. One entry was particularly intriguing however, the prisoner called Jorec Merridon had only a brief description of the crime committed. He was simply charged with conspiracy, yet his record was heavily classified. Only an officer with a Code R security clearance could fully unlock his file, and the only piece of evidence was also classified as well. The evidence had been placed in a solid bag, and placed in the evidence room under strict supervision by Imperial guards. Of all of the people in his staff, only he could actually open the evidence locker containing it.

He checked the chronometer on the computer terminal he was working on, finally checking off the final pre-flight checks on his section. It was getting close to launch time, and if he had timed the sedative right the humanoid prisoners would be awakening in about another 30 minutes. He took a quick sip from the mug near the terminal and readied himself for another routine flight.


	19. Chapter XVIII

**Chapter XVIII**

Hyperspace; one of the most used pieces of technology in the galaxy. It's invention allowed interstellar trade and the birth of the Galactic Republic. However, it also held many dangers. A slight miscalculation by either a machine or a sentient had the potential to lead to a major accident with massive loss of life.

The white cot beneath him was only slightly more comfortable than the durasteel slab on the _Banesclaw_ that masqueraded as a bed, yet other than the small refresher unit on the wall next to him, it was the only place to sit other than the floor. Jorec looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought. In truth, it had been the only thing to do in the past few days since the content of the nearby computer terminal had been committed to his memory.

He thought about the contents, a list of all of the other inmates in the cellblock and the crimes that they had committed yet never were tried over. The list was full of political prisoners; dissidents, a former Separatist, and actual rebels all had a cell in the cellblock, and all of them were wondering about what their future was going to hold for them.

Jorec, however, thought of the past. He remembered himself and the other younglings in the Rancor Clan learning the basics of learning the Force before the Clone Wars began. He remembered meditating in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, listening to the water as it flowed throughout the room. The vision of a Twi'lek youngling that he couldn't even remember the name of and himself arguing over whether or not Yoda was as great a warrior as all of the other Jedi in the Temple did. Noting Yoda's almost serene wisdom, he had argued against the fact. Jorec smiled remembering the feeling of disappointment and shock as he watched Master Yoda and Master Kenobi perform a lightsaber combat demo in front of several clans. The sight of Master Yoda leaping around into the air, his training 'saber seemingly in several places at once but always being blocked by Master Kenobi's blue blade, amazed Jorec. However, the downside of having to give two weeks worth of Agamarian Sweet Rolls to the Twi'lek quickly soured the amazement of seeing the wise Jedi Master unveil a more martial role.

Yet all good things weren't meant to last. The beginning of the Clone Wars brought a distant fear in the minds of the older younglings about to become Padawans, all of them hearing the horrific tales of the war from older Jedi. His own participation in the Clone Wars was glossed over in his mind, intent on seeing the happy memories of his life.

In his mind, he skipped ahead to the past five years. So much had happened in that time period that was worth remembering. In his mind's eye he saw the snow-covered trees of the vast forests near his home, the white snow often accumulating up to six inches, making walking along the nature trails a chore. The smell of the forest after a heavy rainstorm, the sounds of the local wildlife as they came out of hiding and hunted along the now flowing creeks and streams.

Despite the beauty of nature that he had seen on Selvernos, to Jorec, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen was when he had first seen Lia Garent. The sight of her in that bookstore, trying to get the rest of the customers to go about their business after a drunken Kraat had made a mess of the place, remained a memory that had crossed his mind plenty of times ever since he had awoken in the cell. More memories followed of the time he had spent with her.

A slight shudder throughout the ship interrupted his thoughts, a slight shudder that ran its way through the metal legs of the cot and reverberated through Jorec's back. As he quickly sat up in the cot, he noticed the other people in the nearby cells were reacting in almost the same way. The feeling of fear from everyone in the room assaulted Jorec, adding to his own and strengthening his own despair.

The gravity well of the planet tugged at the structure, opposing the hyperdrive's thrust for a fraction of a second before safety protocols kicked into gear and shut down the engines. With a flash of light reflecting off of its hull, the _Interrogator_ blinked into existence near the nearly barren planet. The hull shuddered due to the violent deceleration, and the command tower on the bottom of the ship began to give way. The cracks that appeared on the blackish hull widened, sending the contents of several offices speeding away into the abyss of space. The decompression damaged the tower further; sparks flying from severed wires flew out into space only to be extinguished as quickly as they were birthed. The crewmembers aboard the bridge of the ship screamed out in horror as another series of shudders erupted beneath their feet, a few of the inexperienced crewmembers unaccustomed to the hazards of space travel fell to the floor.

The damage became worse as the decompression continued and the sudden deceleration continued. It only took a little while longer for the command tower of the ship to be completely ripped off of the hull, sending it into an uncontrollable orbit of the planet. Like an antique sailing ship without a rudder, the _Lictor_-class ship's sublight engines were silenced, sending it into a quickly decaying orbit. As emergency sirens roared throughout the ship, the crew of the emergency bridge raced to reach their stations as the computers attempted to bring the dying ship into an emergency landing onto the barely habitable world below.

Despite the best attempts of the emergency crews and the computers, the _Interrogator_ entered the atmosphere of the planet at too steep of an angle, the minimal heat shields of the ship absorbing all that they could. The effort was not enough, however. Flames began to form around the outer hull of the ship, causing several of the native wildlife to gaze at the two fireballs that were falling from the sky. The main section of the ship began to slowly even out; eventually reaching angling off to a decent angle as the engine power was eventually restored.

Inside of his cell, Jorec could feel the horrific death throes of the ship. He held on to the vibrating cot with both hands, and silently hoped that the Force would grant him either survival or a quick death. The strange mixture of the weightlessness of falling and the weak artificial gravity of the ship caused many of the other prisoners in the cellblock, including Jorec, to regurgitate the meal that had been "served" only an hour previously. Jorec could see the Geonosian in the next cell attempt to stay in one place by flapping his wings futilely, attempting to stay upright while those prisoners not anchored to something floated upwards and bounced around the ceiling. Each one tried their best to avoid the red barricades that would more than likely cause serious injury upon sustained contact. His hands moistened with sweat, Jorec's grip upon the metal frame of the cot began to weaken.

Reversing thrusters fired, trying to slow down the ship as the ground rapidly approached at a slightly reasonably angle. The ship slowed considerably before slamming into a plateau. The impact sent Jorec reeling towards the red energy bars of the cell, sending a wave of pain throughout his body before his vision went black.

The _Interrogator_ slid across the frozen tundra, carving deep wounds into the ground below. The fire-weakened hull buckled under the friction of the ground, and with a horrendous sound that nothing still living heard, the bottom of the ship separated from the rest of the ship and dug deeper into the ground. What followed was the complete rending of the ship, causing the front half to continue sliding on the ground while the rear began to slow down more rapidly. Several miles above wreckage, the command tower had just finished disintegrating, sending small amounts of ash and soot to sprinkle down onto the planet.

The dirt thrown into the air by the impact and subsequent slide of the two halves of the ship began to slowly settle back towards the ground. It would take two hours before the dust finally settled, and by then the survivors had begun to stir…


	20. Chapter IXX

Chapter IXX 

The darkness in his mind slowly faded away as Jorec regained consciousness. A warm liquid had pooled underneath his left hand. Blood, he thought as he struggled to open his eyes. But is it mine? He then became aware of a sharp prodding on the left side of his neck, the prodding of two fingers that seemed to want to silence the heartbeat in his neck. Moving out of self-preservation, Jorec opened his eyes and quickly grabbed the hand of his attacker.

The hand attempted to pull back from Jorec's neck, but the supposedly dead prisoner continued to keep his grip. A panicked scream came from the hand's owner. Through the red emergency lighting of the cellblock, Jorec could see the face of a human male standing over him.

"Let go of me!" the human exclaimed as he attempted to pull Jorec's hand off of his wrist. "I was only trying to help you!"

"What happened?" Jorec asked as he released the hand. The human shook his wrist and stepped back a meter from Jorec. Jorec raised himself up into a sitting position, oddly feeling very little pain.

"I think we crashed," the man replied. "And you were dead… You weren't breathing and I couldn't find a pulse. Then the next thing I know you were attacking me!"

Jorec got up to his feet, noticing the pool of blood that had formed underneath part of him from several other sentients that weren't as lucky as himself. "Apparently you didn't check well enough," Jorec said as he wiped his hands off on his prisoner's jumpsuit. "I'm obviously still alive."

"I think he kind of figured that out himself, what with you nearly breaking his _other_ arm," replied a high-pitched voice from the far wall. Jorec looked and saw a creature about a little over a meter tall standing near the door of the cellblock. The creature appeared to be light-colored in the red lighting, and had two sets of arms emerging from its midsection. The lower pair of arms were crossed across its chest, while the upper pair gestured towards the two humans.

"Sorry about that," Jorec apologized to the other human in the room. "I'm… Jorec Merridon," he said after a slight hesitation.

"Conspiracy," the man replied, giving the sole charge against Jorec that the computer terminals had reported. "I'm Banth Alloan, conspiracy, aiding and abetting known enemies of the Empire, etc."

The four-armed alien, whom Jorec had now identified as a Xexto, spoke up next. "My name is Rinoco Teves. Apparently, the Empire decided that I was a little too outspoken against them. Hence the treason charge you probably saw on the computer terminal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to get this door open."

Rinoco turned back to the control panel on the door and began using all four of his hands to type in commands in the keypad. Jorec turned to Banth after looking across the room one last time.

"Is anybody else still alive?"

"Not that I know of, unless any of the others know your little trick," he replied.

I don't think they do, Jorec thought before actually speaking. "What about outside of this cellblock? Will we run into a fully armed group of Stormtroopers after Rinoco opens this door?"

"We'll find out right… about… now," said the Xexto as he entered a few final keystrokes. With a slight hesitation the doors slid open, sending Jorec and Banth towards a hiding place. A beam of white light emerged from the opening, and Rinoco quickly glanced outside of the cellblock and into the hallway to freedom. "Okay, it looks like it's safe," he said as he waved his lower right arm towards the hallway.

Jorec took the lead, slowly walking down the lit hallway, on a careful lookout for anything that might attack him and his two companions. Rinoco followed next, all of his arms ready to attack any hostile intruder. Jorec saw the closed door that no doubt led to a control room of some kind, he motioned towards the door's control panel and watched as the Xexto began his work.

"It's not even locked," replied the Xexto as he opened the door.

Jorec walked into the room through the opened door, and nearly vomited at seeing the sight of the body of what once was the warden of the cellblock. With the exception of the gruesome sight in front of him, the room was empty. Gray fuzz came from computer monitors showing security cameras that had been knocked out during the crash. One monitor offered a swinging view of a monochrome floor, every once and a while showing the bottoms of what appeared to be lockers. Finally, the floor began to reach towards the camera and the view went gray as it crashed to the floor.

Jorec took an empty seat next to one of the still functioning computers, and quickly brought up the database. "Hey, everybody. I think I've found our next place to go… Try to find this section's Evidence Room, according to the schematic it should be a few doors down." A smirk crossed his face as he looked at what appeared to be a virtual arsenal. Blaster pistols from almost every major manufacturer, several droids and/or droid parts that had been confiscated, a few vibrodaggers, and most importantly; one piece of evidence that was marked only as "Restricted." That'll be my lightsaber, Jorec thought. He could only hope that all of the weapons were in perfect working condition.

"I found it!" came the booming voice of Banth, loud enough to possibly attract the attention of any living guards.

At least we'll have weapons to defend ourselves, Jorec thought as he walked towards the Evidence room. When he arrived at the room, Banth had already entered the room and was struggling to open one of the lockers.

"They're obviously locked," Banth said as he examined the locks. "I think I know how to unlock these things, go get that warden from the other room."

A look of disgust crossed over Jorec's face as he remembered the mangled corpse. "OK, I'll get it…" He returned with Rinoco, both of them dragging the gray-uniformed warden's body towards the first locker. They struggled to position the warden's right thumb into the identification slot, all three survivors held their breath, each hoping that the ID slots couldn't tell the difference between the living and the dead. Three sighs of relief sounded as the locker hissed open, revealing a sealed bag containing what appeared to be a fairly new model Blastech pistol.

Banth's healthy hand shot in between Jorec and Rinoco, grabbing at the bag and claiming its contents as his own. Hope he doesn't do that with my lightsaber, Jorec thought. Speaking of which, how am I going to explain that to these people? Enter in another forced trust with someone? Might as well be truthful, he thought. I'm going to need lots of practice for when I return to Selvernos…

"Please be a vibroknife, please be a vibroknife," Rinoco pleaded as he and Jorec dragged the body to the fifth locker. All four of the Xexto's arms were burning with fatigue. His wish was granted…

All three of them sat on the floor of the evidence room, dividing up the several blaster pistols and the energy cells. Jorec eyed the solid-colored bag in the middle of the pile, avoided mainly due to its unknown contents. If there was a time where he could safely grab it and reveal the lightsaber hidden within, it was now when the blasters weren't loaded.

"There's something you all need to know about me," Jorec said as he reached for the bag. "I was charged with conspiracy, and convicted without a trial."

"We were all convicted without a trial," Banth replied. "What's that have to do with anything?"

Jorec opened the bag and reached his right hand in. "I'm sure you've heard several stories about people like me, and they're probably all false," Jorec said as he pulled the metal cylinder out of the bag. "I'm sure you've heard about what this is."

Rinoco seemed shocked at the revelation, but no hostile moves were made.

"A Jedi, huh?" Banth asked. "That explains the whole 'not having a pulse' stunt you pulled about an hour ago. Healing trance, right?"

Jorec looked even more shocked than Rinoco after Banth's words. "How do you know that?" he asked.

"Conspiracy, aiding and abetting known enemies of the Empire. That included Jedi, about ten years ago."

"I don't care what you, there's an old saying," Rinoco said as he loaded energy cells into his two blasters. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Glad I know that can trust you," Jorec said. If what you tell me is true, he added mentally. I guess I have no choice until I get off of this rock. Although I have a feeling that telling Lia won't be this easy… It was then that something struck him inside his mind, a sense of something he hadn't felt for nearly nine years. There was danger approaching, and it would be upon them soon.

"We've got company," Jorec said as he quickly rose to his feet after grabbing a loaded blaster.

"We should have known we weren't the only survivors," Rinoco said as he spun all four of his blaster pistols in his hands. "And what's the blaster for? Don't Jedi mainly use lightsabers?"

"At the moment, after not having used my lightsaber in about eight years, I'd say I'm a far better shot than I am a melee fighter."

Banth fidgeted his blaster pistol in right hand, knowing that he would be much more useful if he had full use of his primary hand.

Outside of the hall, the twelve Stormtroopers slowly limped towards their target, hoping to find any prisoners and quickly subdue them without being overcome by their own wounds. The leader had already removed his helmet, and with his free arm wiped the blood off of his brow. His eyesight was hazy, and he knew that he couldn't fight well with the concussion he had, but he had to persevere until the rescue ship arrived. He saw the trail of blood that led into the Evidence Room.

"Be alert, men," the commander spoke to his troops. "They're armed. I only hope the Jedi was killed… When the door opens, open fire. All prisoners must be eradicated."

He stepped toward the door, his rifle ready. And when the door opened, the battle began.


	21. Chapter XX

Chapter XX 

Jorec fired off two quick shots as the door opened, barely grazing the first Stormtrooper who opened the door, and quickly spun behind the cover of an evidence locker. He glanced to the right and saw red bolts of energy fly past his vision. Rinoco quickly walked to the cover, all four of his blaster pistols firing at the Stormtroopers.

"I got about two," Rinoco told Jorec as he leaned from his cover to keep the Stormtroopers at bay. "You?"

"I only grazed one," Jorec replied. "Where's Banth?"

"He caught one in the opening barrage. Didn't see where, just saw him go down."

Jorec squeezed a shot at a Stormtrooper, only for the shot to go wide of his target. Cursing as the retaliatory shots came in. One hit the locker a few centimeters from his face, burning a large hole in the metal. The rest flew harmlessly away from their intended target.

The Stormtroopers kept firing as they slowly advanced, another one of their numbers brought down by Rinoco's barrage.

"Jorec, they're advancing. Run to the next set of lockers, I'll cover for you."

Jorec nodded and when the Xexto sidestepped his way into the aisle, firing all of his blasters, ran backwards and finally took cover behind another set of lockers.

"Eight left," Rinoco exclaimed as he too finally reached the next aisle.

One minute later, the edges of the lockers were a twisted combination of melted metal and several impact holes, and no more Stormtroopers had been taken out. For the past 45 seconds, the gunfight had become a virtual stalemate, with both sides taking potshots from behind their cover.

"They're trying to wear us out," Jorec said as he avoided a few blaster shots that came dangerously close to hitting him.

"Looks like they're trading places at taking shots at us," Rinoco replied. "Any ideas on how to get out of this mess?" he asked Jorec.

Looking down at the lightsaber on the floor, Jorec nodded. He called it to his hand. "One, but it may not work."

"You're kidding, right? You said you haven't used that thing in years!"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Jorec asked as he took a shot at a Stormtrooper from behind his cover. "When I say 'go,' run to the next aisle and draw their fire."

"Well, seeing as we're going to die anyway if we keep this up do it," Rinoco said. "I'm ready."

Jorec closed his eyes for a second, and switched his weapons. "Need a little help here, Master," he whispered as he drew in the Force. He felt faster, both in his reflexes and his mind, and he felt confident that he could do what had to be done.

"Go!" Jorec yelled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rinoco move out into the open with all four of his blaster pistols blazing. Jorec leaped up to the top of the 2-meter tall evidence locker, igniting his lightsaber once he reached the top. The blue blade cast little light inside of the bright room, but Jorec saw the shine off of the blade despite this. He leaped across of the distance separating the two evidence lockers and soon he was looking down upon the eight Stormtroopers behind their cover. Two shots from his blaster pistol took out both the Stormtrooper he had wounded earlier and one without a helmet before they were even aware of his presence. Jorec dropped his blaster onto the floor and stretched out his left hand towards a group of three soldiers to the right, the three flew away from their cover and into the fire of Rinoco. He leaped down into the aisle and decapitated the two Stormtroopers he landed next to. The lone remaining Stormtrooper turned around and raised his rifle to shoot at the Jedi. The blade of the lightsaber twirled in Jorec's hand, first slicing the arms off of the white-armored figure in a failed attempt to sever the barrel, and then moving in a diagonal arc across the chest of the wounded trooper in one fluid movement. Behind him, Jorec could hear Rinoco shoot the last of the three troops he had pushed towards him. Certain that the threat was over, Jorec thumbed his lightsaber off, and slowly exhaled.

"By the Force!" Rinoco exclaimed as he turned to see the five bodies of the Stormtroopers that Jorec had killed. "You did all of that?"

"Exactly," Jorec replied as he felt himself return to normal. "By the Force… How's Banth?"

Rinoco walked over to his fallen comrade. "Not too good… He's alive, but I don't know for how long."

Jorec jogged to the fallen body of Banth, studying the blaster wound in the human's midsection. He had seen a wound similar to this three years previously, the result of a dreadful hunting accident in the woods of Selvernos, but here there was no quick call to the nearest medcenter and no emergency airspeeder.

"O...ana," Banth tried to say as Jorec kneeled over him, his breathing becoming more labored. He wasn't going to last very long.

"What did he try to say?" Rinoco asked as he quickly searched the room for any sort of medical kit.

"Organa," Banth was finally able to say.

Organa. The name seemed familiar to Jorec, an Alderaanian senator that always seemed to be a friend to the Jedi.

"Bail Organa?" Jorec asked to the dying man, hoping to get any clues from him.

Banth nodded his head. "Jedi, I helped hide them…If you survive, go to Alderaan…" With those last words, Banth's breathing slowed to a stop.

Rinoco let out a defeated sigh. "With the way things are going, I don't think we're going to survive. I doubt any ships in the hangar would have survived the crash, and I know we can't kill everyone aboard a rescue ship."

"We have to try," Jorec said as he stood up. "I may have been ready to die when I was captured, but I'm not going to let this opportunity be marred by defeatism. I think I survived this crash for a reason. Besides, we were able to survive." Jorec pointed to the bodies of the Stormtroopers on the floor. "They were able to survive, surely there must be other prisoners."

"I wish I could share your optimism, Jedi," Rinoco replied as he grabbed the energy cell from Banth's gun. He spoke a few words in his own language and then turned back to Jorec. "But we barely survived this. Who knows how many more of them are out there?"

"Says the one who killed most of Stormtroopers here," Jorec replied as he pointed to Rinoco's four blaster pistols. "Besides, you fight better than a simple political dissident should fight."

Rinoco had to grin, and let out some high-pitched laughter. "That's for sure. When I said 'A little outspoken in my beliefs,' I meant something to the effect of 'I bombed a few Imperial vehicles, attacked a few supply depots, and various other methods of mayhem.'"

Jorec raised his eyebrows in response to Rinoco's confession, and traded his blaster pistol for one of the fallen Stormtrooper's E-11's.

Bail Organa, he thought as he walked out of the partially destroyed evidence room. I wonder if I can trust him. He's always seemed to be a friend of the Jedi, but then again I think we believed Palpatine to be the same way. Oh well, I can worry about this later. Right now I have to worry about getting off of this planet we crashed on, and getting back to Selvernos. There's someone I need to see there, and she needs to know the truth about me…


	22. Chapter XXI

Chapter XXI

The Imperial landing craft descended upon the surface of the planet, a few meters from the mangled wreckage of the aft portion of the ship. The pilot whispered a curse as he saw the extent of the damages, surely nobody could have survived that! But somebody had to have activated the distress beacon, there had to be someone alive in that thing. Or at least someone had to be alive four days ago…

Jorec watched as the shuttle landed, hidden behind a piece of wreckage. He signaled to Rinoco, telling him that the ship had landed. He watched as the Stormtroopers began to disembark from the ship, ready to search the wreckage from the Imperial survivors that barely existed. The wounded Imperials, Jorec thought, would be safe from the battle that would likely occur. If they failed, the Imperials would simply find them and take them off of the planet. And if Jorec and Rinoco succeeded in defeating the troops and making it onto the landing craft, the injured would be dropped off at the nearest hospital on the nearest inhabited planet.

He counted the troops as they marched towards the group, there were about ten of them. This was going to be easier than the last battle, Jorec thought. We have a highly defendable location with limited points of entry. They're still out in the open with no cover at all. The only thing they can do when we fire upon them is to either charge for our position, or flee back to their ship. Jorec clutched his blaster pistol in his hand, wishing that they had something other than a blaster pistol and the highly inaccurate E-11's they had "liberated" from the dead guards.

"If only they would have confiscated my Blastech Model 511 hunting rifle," he whispered. He could easily pick off two or three of the oncoming troops now before they even knew he was there. He looked down at his feet, checking his stash of spare energy cells, an E-11, and his lightsaber.

The Stormtroopers were now ¾ of the from the landing craft to the wreckage, approximately ten meters away. Rinoco gave a soft whistle, the signal to begin. Jorec took careful aim at nearest Stormtrooper, focusing his aim near the soldier's knees to account for the recoil, and then pulled the trigger. The energy beam slammed into the chest of the soldier, bringing him down to the ground. Rinoco's first shot also took down another trooper. The Stormtroopers stopped in place, looking for the origin of the shots that had downed two of their own. That gave time for the attackers to line up another shot. Rinoco's next shot completely missed it's target, while Jorec's shot gave a trooper a non-fatal shoulder wound.

The Stormtroopers paced backwards while opening fire towards their attackers, the erratic long-distance fire of the E-11 didn't even pose a threat to Jorec and Rinoco. As Jorec saw their movements, he let out a curse as one of his shots went wide of their targets. The troopers were retreating back to their ship, and then he would be stranded on this planet.

Another trooper went down by Rinoco's fire, making the remaining number of troops at six, nearly half of initial force. Jorec's next shot brought the total down to five. Jorec realized that yet another use of the Force was needed in order to escape this planet, he had to reach the inside of that ship before the Stormtroopers did.

He leapt off of the elevated platform created by the crash that served as his cover, and hit the ground in a Force-assisted landing. The remaining Stormtroopers turned their attention to the gray-clad thing that had just fallen from a great height and was now headed towards them. They opened fire upon the thing, causing a blue blade of energy to emerge from its right arm. The blade intercepted the few shots that got close to it, sending them reflecting back into the air. One blaster shot was redirected into the shoulder of a soldier, sending him down to the ground.

Jorec saw the four remaining Stormtroopers resuming firing upon him, the red blaster bolts streaming past his vision and towards the wreckage. He was close to the group, and with a leap, he soared over the group, flipping over them in order to minimize the target they would have. He landed on his feet about a meter past them, and continued running towards the ship.

He saw the ramp begin to ascend as he reached the halfway point, and his lungs and legs were already burning with exhaustion despite his use of the Force. As the Stormtroopers finally began firing to his back, he pushed himself even harder. Red blaster fire raced behind him, reminding him of when he had escaped the clones that had betrayed him and the other Jedi on Selvernos. The ramp was hanging at a 45-degree angle when Jorec finally reached it twenty seconds after he had begun to race towards it. Another quick jump landed him into the interior of the ship. He brought his lightsaber up, wondering if there were any other troops aboard the ship. 

He got back on his feet, exhausted from both the running and the heavy Force use. In his life, he had never drawn on the Force to such a degree, even though a more experienced Force-user would probably find what he had just done easy, Jorec had barely used the Force at all during the eight years of his new life. He strained his ears, listening for any sign of an enemy coming his way.

"Begin lift-off," came a voice to his left.

"What about the troops?" another voice asked.

"With that Jedi out there, they're as good as dead," the first voice replied.

Jorec tried to catch his breath, knowing that trying to sneak up upon the two pilots while breathing heavily would only alert them to his survival, and would ruin his chances.

The copilot of the vessel was readying the ship for take-off when a blue bar of light flashed to life in front of his face. His companion almost jumped out of his chair before a hand came down upon his shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Jorec spoke to the pilot in an angry voice. "One false move and your friend gets it, and then you," he bluffed.

The pilot settled down in his chair, while the copilot squirmed, hoping that he would survive the next few minutes.

"Now, tell the search-and-rescue team out there to surrender," Jorec commanded the pilot. "And no funny business."

The pilot nodded and slowly reached for the communications station. "Alpha Team, this is _Kirwood_, stand down and surrender immediately. I repeat, surrender immediately!"

From behind his cover, Rinoco watched as the Stormtroopers stood around in confusion after Jorec had jumped over them. The four Stormtroopers had stopped firing, and after what seemed to be a few minutes, removed the energy cells from their rifles and threw the two parts separate ways.

"Very good," Jorec said to the pilot, his lightsaber still near the copilot but no longer at his throat. "Now, take off and land between the troops and the wreckage. Don't you try anything funny," he added.

Twenty minutes later, Rinoco led the last of the surrendering troops into the cargo hold of the ship, the entire vessel's supply of stuncuffs around their wrists. The wounded were allowed into the first aid bay, where the medical droids began to heal them.

"You know how to pilot this thing?" Jorec asked the Xexto rebel as he entered the cockpit of the ship.

"I'm not familiar with this exact model, but I have flown several other space transports," Rinoco replied. "Where exactly do you want to go? Alderaan?" Rinoco asked, remembering the dying words of Banth.

"No," Jorec replied. "Selvernos. We need to go to Selvernos."


	23. Chapter XXII

Chapter XXII 

The familiar smell of the wilderness of Selvernos welcomed Jorec as he stepped out of the _Wayfarer­_-class transport and onto the tarmac of Gevest's less-busy spaceport. It was simple enough, a barely useful duracrete landing pad that could only hold about ten medium sized transports. A few other transports were also on the landing pad, a few YT-2400's and two other ships that Jorec couldn't identify, leaving the place relatively quiet. Jorec checked the civilian clothes that Rinoco had somehow "acquired" on the planet that they had dropped off the surrendering and wounded Imperials, they were simple and designed to allow the wearer to blend in well in a crowded area. They were exactly what Jorec needed…

That planet, about a day's journey away from Selvernos via hyperspace, seemed to treat Rinoco quite well, bringing the group several sets of civilian clothes as well as the new ship. The ship was called the _Dancer's Dream_, and it seemed to be a used starship buyer's dream. Almost everything on the cargo-hauler worked, and worked well. The dark brown cargo compartment that extended thirty meters past the cockpit of the ship was in perfect working order, and the various other systems of the ship seemed to be in top condition. Which made Jorec not want to know where and how Rinoco had got all four of his hands on this ship.

Sure, Jorec had stolen items before to survive during his nearly two years in the wilderness, but those had been simple items such as food and hygienic supplies. The largest thing he had stolen was a tent, but never a fully equipped starship…

He pushed the thought of the stolen starship from his mind as the cool wind from the mountains began to pick up, sending the scent of the native plants towards him. In the afternoon sky, Jorec could barely see the first of Selvernos' two moons begin it's ascent, signaling that nightfall would be coming in just a few hours. If Jorec remembered his weather patterns correctly, a late spring snow would begin to fall in about two or three days.

"Keep the ship running," Jorec said to Rinoco as he began his long journey. "I have no idea what's going to happen, so you better be ready for a quick take-off."

"Fine by me," Rinoco replied as the boarding ramp began to ascend. "Just be careful out there, and good luck."

"I'm going to need it," Jorec whispered to himself as he left the spaceport and began walking the streets of Gevest. It was a seven-kilometer walk from there to Lia's apartment, a distance that was possible to traverse on foot, but one that would provide him with ample time to think.

What exactly was he going to say when he got there? To tell the truth, Jorec had absolutely no idea. It was a foolish notion to think that a quick little talk with would make things completely right again, he even doubted that their relationship would actually continue. He couldn't help but think that he was putting himself into a risky situation by doing this. The amount of people that could possibly recognize him from whatever Imperial media coverage he had received, if any, was staggering, and he certainly wasn't strong enough in the Force to weave an illusion around himself.

That was another thing for Jorec to worry about. What had Lia heard about him if the Imperials had broadcast the capture of a traitor in the city? He knew that she didn't really like the Empire, being a teenager when the Clone Wars ended, but he had no idea about her feelings on Jedi. And it would take some explaining about that whole "non-attachment" rule that had been relatively common knowledge, and had been used in some bits of Imperial propaganda against the Jedi, and how it didn't mean that Jedi were unable to love, just that it was forbidden.

Night had fallen upon the city as Jorec reached the ¾ mark of his journey, causing the streets to be bathed by the illumination of the streetlights. Jorec walked in the dim area near the edge of the lights, trying not to be identified by the few other pedestrians. He went over what he could possibly say when he reached his destination, and how he could say it. He patted the pocket inside of his jacket, making sure that his lightsaber was still in place. He had brought it along for defense, in case he was recognized and the authorities were called. He hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

Several minutes later, Jorec stood at the door to Lia's apartment, the feelings of nervousness he had been dreading ever since he had escaped from that frozen hell the prison ship had crashed on. He pressed a button on the control panel, all thoughts about the elderly woman who looked at him funny on the first floor were pushed out of his head.

_Please, just open the door,_ he thought as he stood by the door. _Just listen to what I have to say before you make any quick judgments about me…_

He stood by the door, as the seconds passed they seemed like long minutes. Finally, the door slid slightly open, a security measure that many people had had installed on Selvernos. Through the crack of the door, he could see Lia's face. Her hazel eyes studied him for a while with what felt like an icy glare, and he could barely see her brown hair that was almost completely concealed by the door.

"Lia, we need to talk," Jorec said, the words barely coming out of his mouth above a whisper.

"What are you doing here?" she harshly whispered. "If they find out you were here, they'd arrest me too."

"I'm here because I need to speak with you," Jorec replied, relieved that his worst case scenario hadn't happened. "And it's about my arrest, and other things. I'm not guilty of what they charged me with."

"Even if you really weren't guilty, it really doesn't matter to them!" she replied.

"Please, Lia, I do need to speak with you."

"About what?" she questioned him, about ready to slam the door shut in his face.

Jorec paused for a second, not really wanting to reveal his big secret to her in the middle of a hallway, where someone could walk out into it at any second.

"I'm not a criminal, Lia, I have done nothing wrong," Jorec partially answered her question. "Nothing except being born," he added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lia asked, her voice seemingly losing the harshness her earlier replies had been filled with.

"I can't tell you out here, I know it sounds crazy, but I have to speak with you privately."

Lia backed away from the door, lost in thought over what to do next. She hadn't seen him in almost a week shy of a month, and she had heard of his arrest on treason charges on the local HoloNews a few days after it had happened. Her mind was racing with mixed feelings; she was almost afraid of him and what he might do, and yet at the same time she had this feeling that she could trust him. The part of her that felt she could trust him also reminded her that she still loved him.

"Come in," she said as she gave in to that part of her. The door opened, and as he entered she hoped she didn't make her last mistake.

Jorec stepped into the apartment, and pointed to a nearby chair. "Do you mind if I take a seat?" he asked her.

"Go ahead, now what is so secret that you couldn't tell me out in the hallway?" she asked him, watching as he took a seat facing her as she remained near the doorway, ready to run outside if he made any threatening moves towards her.

Jorec froze temporarily, all of his plans about what he was going to say that he had made during the walk flew out of his mind, leaving him with nothing but stating the truth in a single blunt statement.

"I was… am a Jedi, Lia," he said, instantly feeling that something better could have been said to open up with.

She chuckled. "A Jedi? That's impossible, from what you've told me about your past and what I know about the Jedi, you couldn't have been one."

_Here's the part I'm dreading, _Jorec thought. "What I told you about my past," Jorec paused for a few seconds, trying to find some way to break the next piece of news as gently as possible. "Isn't exactly the truth," he concluded.

"You've lied to me this entire time!" she exclaimed, causing Jorec to worry about the possibility of her neighbors fearing a domestic dispute and calling the local police force.

"I only lied to protect myself," Jorec attempted to explain, "and you. I couldn't exactly go 'Hi, I'm a Jedi' to someone I barely knew. And almost everything I told you had a basis in fact."

"I'm seriously doubting you watching your father murdered is one of them," Lia responded. "Although I think I know the real fact behind your 'family' moving to Selvernos," she added, remembering reading about the two Jedi generals and their apprentices that led the Clone Troopers in their liberation of Selvernos when she was 14.

"I don't even know my real father, as far as I know he's still alive. Do you remember hearing about the Jedi Rebellion?"

"By the Force, it's true isn't it?" she replied to his question. "They really did try to take over, didn't they?"

Jorec shook his head at her incorrect assumption. "As far as I know, the Jedi never betrayed the Republic. We were the ones that were betrayed. I was thirteen when I was assigned to be the Pada… apprentice to a Jedi Master named Merrick Fionst. It was right before the Battle of Coruscant."

He watched as she took a seat on the chair opposite him, and waited a while for her to be fully seated before continuing. "It turns out that our first assignment was to help with the Clone Troopers and the local militia liberate this planet. We landed, and we fought the battle. I was scared, even though Jedi aren't supposed to be, but I managed to survive. It wasn't long after that that we received word that General Grievous had been killed, and that the war was all but over. To celebrate, Merrick and I went out into the courtyard of the base with the other two Jedi to get some much-needed lightsaber practice." Jorec slowly reached into the pocket inside of his jacket and removed his lightsaber. Lia slightly jumped at the sight of the weapon, but calmed down when Jorec placed it on the table separating the two.

"We were just sparring, working on what little dueling skills I had. I was the one to see them first," Jorec said, referring to the Clone Troopers and getting a little teary-eyed at reliving the memories. "They walked over to the edge of the courtyard and began firing at us for no reason. We took cover, trying to save our own lives. I can still remember hearing the sound of the blaster fire impacting on the duracrete support structures we hid behind.

"After a while of that," Jorec continued, watching as Lia seemed engrossed in the real back story, "the two Masters ordered me to run into the woods. They gave their lives in order for me to survive, for the longest time I wished I would have been the one to die there."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I was weak, most of the other Jedi were probably hiding away, waiting for the moment to attack the Empire and restore the Republic. I couldn't do that, I was still traumatized and living for nearly two years in the wilderness after the attack. I did what I thought was best after I decided to get out of the woods, I tried to start a new life. I got a job, made a few friends," Jorec raised his head and looked at Lia before he finished, "I fell in love."

"I thought Jedi couldn't love," she responded, remembering all that she had heard about Jedi regarding that subject, fearing that her feelings for him weren't returned.

"Jedi weren't _allowed_ to love," Jorec explained. "I can assure you that Jedi are absolutely capable of loving someone. When I told you that I loved you, I meant it."

Jorec stretched his legs. "I just wish I could have told you before all of this happened. This is really no way to find out about something like this. Of course, there was a possibility that I wouldn't have even made it here alive."

"How do I know that what you're telling me is the truth?" she asked. "How do I know that all of this really happened?"

"I wish I had proof," Jorec answered her. "Sadly none exists that I know of, save that lightsaber. All I can do is tell you the truth and hope that you believe me. That's all I wanted to do here, just tell you the truth. I felt that it was important that you know."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Lia asked in a soft voice.

Jorec lowered his head in shame as he tried to put the feelings into words. "I was afraid, Lia. Afraid of what you'd say. There isn't a lot of people that actually know that I'm a Jedi, and none of them were told by my voluntarily. You've been the first. I'm sorry for that, I'm sorry I had to put you through all of this." Jorec scooted back in his chair, sitting against the back of it. "I've told you the entire truth, Lia. Do you believe me?" he asked, silently hoping that she did believe him.

"I… I don't know," she replied. "It just seems a little hard to believe at times."

Jorec's attention was torn from the room as his senses picked up something outside of the apartment complex entirely. He had sensed their presence before on that wrecked prison ship. Stormtroopers, more than likely alerted by a scared elderly couple, had entered the building, and were now approaching the second floor.

"I have a feeling it's about to become extremely real," Jorec said as he quickly stood up. "Stormtroopers are on their way up here!"

"How can you tell?" Lia asked, forgetting about the danger sense that Jedi had.

"I can sense them, just as much as I can sense you in this room," Jorec replied as he attempted to narrow down their exact location. He grabbed his lightsaber from off of the table and held in his hands. "I'm afraid you're about to get your proof, Lia. Stay behind me, and do you have a fire escape or anything to get out of this place other than the door?"

He cursed as she shook her head no. He was trapped in this room, knowing that when the Stormtroopers blasted their way in they wouldn't hesitate to kill him and Lia. For the briefest moment, the thought of giving in to his fear of dying and his anger towards the enemy entered his mind. He knew that with a simple gesture, all of the people attempting to enter the apartment would be fried in an electric display of power. But he also knew the consequences of giving in to that feeling, he knew that he would become the very thing he would be killing.

"There is one out in the hall, though," Lia finished.

"It's risky, but it'll have to do," Jorec replied as he began to open the door. "If you want to live, I suggest you come with me. They're going to kill you, or worse, when they see me come out of this place. A friend and I can drop you off somewhere safe once we're out of here."

Somehow, against what little mistrust she had for Jorec, she agreed to follow him.

"OK, I'll run out first and you follow me. Just try to stick close to me, I won't let them kill you. If I fall, run as fast as you can away from them."

Jorec's hand moved to press the button that would open the door and lead them straight into the outside threat, yet he stopped. One more thing needed to be said before they fled. "Lia, just so know, I do love you."


	24. Chapter XXIII

**Chapter XXIII**

Jorec pressed the button next to the door, sending it sliding open. He made a quick glance to his right, barely seeing the white tops of the Stormtrooper's heads as they began to reach the second floor. A look to left yielded nothing but an empty hallway.

"OK, go!" he yelled to Lia as he stepped out into the hallway, his lightsaber snapping to life. She complied and began to run towards the fire escape.

Jorec began to quickly back away from his spot as the Stormtroopers rushed towards the sound of the lightsaber igniting. He glanced back, watching as Lia kept running, feeling that something bad was going to happen soon. He heeded the warning, swiftly walking backwards with his lightsaber in front of him. A single shot rang out from the stairwell in front of him, the red bolt being quickly deflected into the wall next to Jorec.

He turned around and ran towards Lia as his danger sense amplified, watching as she turned the corner leading to the fire escape. He also saw the white-armored Stormtroopers as they cut off the current exit. He quickly scanned the surrounding area for another chance to escape as the Stormtroopers raised their rifles to fire on the two escapees. As he pulled Lia into recess into the wall that led towards a maintenance droid closet, he realized that his only chance to escape would have to be try a fire escape on an upper floor, even though that meant prolonging the time spent in this apartment complex.

Blaster fire impacted on the walls and flew past the recess as Jorec held Lia close to him. She was trembling with fear, and Jorec really couldn't blame her. At the moment he was frightened as well. All of the other battles he had been in, there was always a more experienced fighter there with him, whether it was his old Master Merrick Fionst or the rebel pilot Rinoco. Now, it was just him, and he had to protect a non-combatant as well from several Imperial Stormtroopers that would not hesitate to kill either one of them. He knew the easy way to get out of this place; it was in the back of his mind, desperately trying to claw its way to the front, and waiting for him to implement it.

Yet he knew where the easy way would take him, he had heard the stories of Dark Jedi and Sith, about how they became completely consumed by the anger that powered them. He knew that if he ever gave in to the fear of dying and used it fuel his own Force powers, he would begin walking down that very path. And it wasn't a path that was easy to get off of…

"Stick close to me," Jorec calmly reminded Lia as he prepared to open up the way from the recess in the wall to the staircase. "We're going to get out this," he reassured her, hoping that his soothing words would be more than just an empty promise.

He popped out from behind his cover, his left hand extended towards the group of six Stormtroopers that had advanced less than a meter in the three seconds he had hid. The lead Stormtrooper felt what seemed to be a tremendous force slamming into his chest, sending him off balance and crashing into two of his subordinates. His finger flexed on the trigger, sending his shot into the ceiling. Jorec watched as the three troops topple into each other, bringing down the entire group with a simple use of the Force.

"Let's go Lia, up the staircase!" he exclaimed as he watched the group of Stormtroopers try and regain their footing. Lia complied, following up the staircase and onto the third floor of the building.

The third floor was thankfully free from Stormtroopers at the moment, but Jorec knew that the hard-to-escape soldiers would soon make their way up to their level, and they couldn't keep moving up the twelve-story building. As he looked at the walls next to him, he was reminded of an old dream that been a reoccurring dream during his early years on the planet.

Jorec reached the fire escape first, and had to quickly move out of the way as a barrage of blaster fire from the Stormtroopers stationed outside of the building. The realization that they were trapped sunk in as Jorec hung his head in shame. As he looked at Lia, he began to think he never should have gotten her involved in this whole mess, now both of them may very well be killed in the next few minutes.

"I've got an idea," Jorec said as a flash of inspiration happened in his brain. He jogged down another corridor and soon reached a medium-sized balcony that overlooked an empty parking lot.

"You have to joking," Lia replied as she looked down at the three-story drop that Jorec was seriously considering jumping down. "There's no way we can survive a fall like that, even if you are a Jedi!"

For a second, Jorec had to agree with her. He had used the Force before to slow his descent, but the fall from his firing perch on the _Interrogator _had been roughly two stories up and he didn't have to compensate for the additional weight of carrying Lia. "I think I can do it," Jorec replied. "Besides if it fails, it's either die up here or die down there. I going to have to carry you," Jorec added as he attached his lightsaber to his belt.

Lia took one more look down at the empty parking lot, thinking herself crazy for even thinking about going through with this, but as she heard the steady footsteps of the Stormtroopers in her head she consented. Jorec took a hold of her, his right arm supporting her head. "Hang on to me," he added, prompting Lia to wrap both of her arms tightly around his neck. I have a bad feeling about this, she thought as Jorec began to jump.

Several blaster rifle shots shattered the windows outside of the balcony, barely missing Jorec as he leapt off of the ledge. Lia's scream was added with his own as he desperately tried to use the force to slow their descent, and wasn't helping that Lia's death grip on him was nearly cutting off his circulation. Nearly a second into their fall, Jorec managed to succeed, slowing themselves down enough to survive the plunge they had taken. Unfortunately, it didn't slow them down completely. As Jorec landed, his left foot gave out, sending a burning pain throughout his leg. He collapsed under his and Lia's weight, barely managing to land on his back.

"You all right, Jorec?" he heard Lia ask as she stood up.

"Landing messed up my ankle," Jorec replied as he attempted to get back on his own feet. He was surprised to see her hand extend out to help him up, a gesture that he gladly accepted.

"Can you walk on it?" she asked as Jorec slowly put some of his weight upon the injured foot.

He winced as another shot of pain raced through his foot as he stood up, but he knew that he was lucky that it wasn't broken. "Walk, yes. Run, no," Jorec replied as he limped towards the parking lot. "They're still after us, though. Where's your landspeeder?"

"In the parking garage," Lia replied. "Third level, near the elevator."

"I hope it isn't badly guarded," Jorec remarked as he tried to use the Force to relieve the pain in his ankle, and was rewarded slightly by being able to put a little more pressure on it. He once again removed his lightsaber from his belt, and readily held in case the troopers found them. With that, Lia and him began jogging to the parking garage.

"I can't believe it," the Stormtrooper in front of the group said as he walked towards the balcony. "They jumped!" His feet crunched on broken glass as he stepped outside. "At least they're dead," he whispered. He peered down the edge, fully expecting to see two dead bodies on the ground, and was surprised to see the parking lot completely empty.

"What the…" he started as the other Stormtroopers joined him. "Alert the squads on the ground," he ordered the communications officer. "I don't know how, but they got away."

"Coast clear?" Jorec asked as he walked up to Lia, who was surveying the third floor from behind the door. Jorec was a few steps behind her, glancing down the staircase for any sign of pursuit. Outside of the window, he could see several Stormtroopers scout the area, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before they checked the parking garage.

"I think so," Lia replied. At least the way to my vehicle is, I can't see the whole lot, however."

"It'll have to do," Jorec said as he moved past her and into the actual garage, the somewhat dim lighting working to his disadvantage if there were any troops in there waiting for an ambush. Satisfied that the garage was indeed empty, he motioned for Lia to join him as they jogged towards her landspeeder, a simple blue model created by a local manufacturer. "Get in," he told her, motioning to the landspeeder's passenger seat.

"Can't even drive my own landspeeder?" she jokingly asked, despite their situation.

"I think I'd be the better driver," Jorec replied as he entered the car. "I know exactly where we're headed, and I think I have a better chance of getting through their little security net. Just stay down until I tell you that it's safe."

"I better get in the back then," she replied.

Jorec punched in the landspeeder's security code that Lia provided for him, and took several deep breaths. They were almost out of this, all they needed to do was get past the Stormtroopers stationed at the front and travel the seven kilometers from the apartment complex to the spaceport. Jorec knew that it wasn't going to be easy though, and he quickly fastened his safety harness. The first kilometer was probably going to be the hardest, he thought as he prepared to exit the parking garage.

JT-5001 casually watched the entrance of the parking garage with the rest of the group he was assigned, his commanding officer holding his light repeating blaster close to him. He wished that he could be at his own home watching Greelom Shariik than being on some mission to kill a Jedi, and what appeared to be his girlfriend. It wasn't the Jedi killing that bothered JT-5001, but the fact that the woman had also been marked for death. As far as he knew, she had no criminal record and had done nothing wrong.

A loud humming noise brought the Stormtrooper out of his thoughts, and he raised his blaster rifle towards the entrance.

Blaster fire flashed around the landspeeder as Jorec made a quick right out of the parking garage. The enclosed speeder provided great cover for him, but the blaster shots impacting on the hull of the vehicle couldn't be healthy. She's going to kill me, Jorec thought. If they don't do the job for her first, he added as the transparisteel window cracked as a blaster shot barely missed hitting it head on.

Jorec plowed through the group of Stormtroopers firing at him, hitting two of them and forcing the rest to scatter. By the time the scattered troops and the rest of the group was alerted to Jorec's escape, the blue landspeeder was already gone from the building.

"OK, I think it's safe now," Jorec told Lia, who slowly sat up in the backseat. Jorec reached into his pocket and pulled out his comlink. "Rinoco, I hope you have the _Dream_ ready to go, we're headed your way."

"'We're'?" Rinoco asked? "She's with you?"

"For the moment," Jorec replied. "They tried to kill us both in there, a resident alerted them to my presence and they probably sent about half of Gevest's garrison after us."

"I heard about that," Rinoco said as he checked the latest readouts. "They've ordered a grounding of all flights in a ten kilometer radius. Getting out of here's going to be a pain."

"Is there any chance of us getting out of here alive?" Lia asked, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

"From what we've been through," Rinoco answered. "I'd say either luck or the Force is definitely with us. I think we stand a pretty good chance."

"Keep the ship running, Rinoco," Jorec told the Xexto. "If nothing extremely bad happens, we should be there in a few minutes."

"I copy," Rinoco replied as he ended the communication.

"Who was that, Rinoco guy?" Lia asked.

"A friend of mine, and a pilot. He was one of the few survivors of the crash," Jorec answered her question.

"Crash!"

"There's a lot of stuff I wanted to tell you before we were so rudely interrupted," Jorec replied. "I'll finish telling you when we get to the ship."

"There's something I need to tell you, too, Jorec," she added, some slight nervousness in her voice.


	25. Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXIV 

Almost there, almost there…

The thoughts swarmed in Jorec's head as he swerved Lia's landspeeder through the light traffic on the main expressway leading to the spaceport where freedom awaited. Yet the two military speeders behind him were bent on preventing them from reaching their destination. Rapid fire from the heavy repeating blaster mounted on the back of the speeder raced through the streets, sending up little shards of duracrete when they impacted on the road beneath the landspeeder. Other shots hit the other speeders that were on the road, causing their drivers to panic and swerve their vehicles away from the fire.

Lia Garent attempted to minimize herself in her seat as the blaster fire continued, her hands were over her head, forcing it as far down as she could. Her safety strap was around her waist, digging into her stomach as the chase continued. The sound of shattering transparisteel filled her ears as she felt the warmth of a blaster bolt as it passed above her hands by a few centimeters, and her back was now littered with the broken pieces of the back window. She heard Jorec in the driver seat let out a Selvernan curse as his window also shattered. The sound of additional blaster fire as they hit the roof of her landspeeder followed, almost making her wish that she had taken up on the offer her father had given five years ago to buy the old family airspeeder. But then again, if the Empire was so desperate to see them dead, she had no doubts that military airspeeders would be scrambled against them, maybe even some fighters from the local garrison.

"You OK back there?" she heard Jorec ask after he apparently swerved in front of another landspeeder for cover.

She nodded, prompting him to ask again. "I'm fine," she finally replied, the words coming out of her mouth in almost a frightened squeak.

"You're doing fine," she heard him respond to her in a reassuring voice. "Just stay low, and you won't get hit."

Jorec himself was trying to stay as low as possible in the driver's seat, hoping that one of the gunners back there wouldn't get in a lucky shot. His windshield was severely cracked, the result of the recent shot that had shattered the back window, and now his visibility was extremely limited. He swerved the speeder away from the civilian vehicle he had been using as cover, attempting to maneuver his vehicle off of the expressway and onto the side streets he had walked upon earlier that evening.

The landspeeder violently rocked as the Stormtroopers operating the heavy repeating blasters opened fire upon once again as it came into their sights. The bolts of energy raced up the street, before finally hitting the speeder's bottom. The speeder's right bottom side dipped toward the ground, part of it impacting with the street below, causing sparks to fly up in the air. Lia was nearly thrown into the door of the landspeeder as she felt her side of the vehicle, shrieking in fright as the grinding of the speeder hitting the street filled the vehicle with a horrendous sound.

"You still there?" Jorec asked as he attempted to steer the craft towards his exit. The speeder was now extremely unresponsive, the simple act of moving the vehicle across the lanes of traffic was now a chore. They had hit one of the repulsors…

"Yeah," Lia answered over the noise. "You?"

"I'll be fine if they just stopped shooting at us for a few seconds," Jorec responded as finally managed to maneuver the landspeeder into the exit. He looked back, and was relieved to find only one of the military landspeeders following him. "I think we lost one," Jorec reported his findings to Lia. "Although I think we're going to have to ditch this speeder soon," he added after three more shots hit the roof. "Unless this thing can last another kilometer."

That last kilometer seemed like it took over an hour to reach, with the lone pursuer continuing to fire upon them nearly unrestricted by any other vehicles on the road. And the busted repulsor both slowed Lia's speeder down, and made it unwieldy to drive, opening them up for more shots. Jorec was relieved to finally see the open gates of the spaceport through the busted windshield.

"Rinoco, get those guns ready, we have some company," Jorec reported to the Xexto through his comlink.

"I think I can see them now, or at least I can see their shots, and some sparks," Rinoco replied as he watched the carnage outside through a viewport. "SITHSPIT, is that you?" he yelled as he saw the now blacked landspeeder as it hobbled towards the _Wayfarer_-class transport on three bottom repulsors.

"Unfortunately, yes," Jorec answered. "Get on those laser cannons!" he ordered the Xexto. "We can't take much more of this!"

Rinoco moved to another chair on the bridge of the ship and punched a few buttons, causing a monitor to light up. He lined the crosshairs over the second car as it continued to fire upon the badly damaged landspeeder, and finally pulled the trigger. Two red shots emerged from the laser cannons of the vessel, and slammed into the roof of the enemy speeder, which promptly gave way. The explosion knocked the gunner from his nest, sending his body onto the permacrete ground.

Jorec followed Lia up the ladder that led into the ship, standing guard in case the other vehicle that had pursued them finally found them again, and was relieved to see nothing other than the smoking remains of the one Rinoco had destroyed. The pain in his left foot was returning as the adrenaline rush of the escape began to wear off. It did seem to be better, however, as it no longer hurt as much as it originally did when he first injured it.

"We're all set for takeoff," Jorec heard Rinoco say as he finally pulled himself out of the hatch and onto the deck of the vessel. He pushed the ladder down, and finally closed and sealed the hatch as Rinoco pointed out the lounge to Lia and walked to the bridge of the ship.

Jorec watched as Lia took a seat at the small conference table in the lounge of the vessel, and he took the seat next to her. "I suppose we still have some talking to do," Jorec said as he heard the _Dancer's Dream_ begin to take off. "Where were we?"

"You had just explained that you were a Jedi, and how you got on the planet to begin with," Lia answered his question. "I have to admit, I had some reservations about believing you," she added as she brushed some shards of transparisteel from the back of her shirt. "But, I think I've seen enough proof that you are," she said, remembering the feeling of falling three stories only to survive the impact unharmed. "How's your foot?" she asked, recalling that while she had escaped unharmed, he didn't.

"It'll be fine," Jorec replied. "Nothing broken, although I should probably put some ice on it later." His left hand moved up to his chin, thinking about what exactly he was planning to say before the Stormtroopers had arrived. "I was planning on telling you," Jorec began. "Funnily enough, I was planning on telling you the next time I saw you. It just happened a little later than I thought it would…" That "little later" had turned out to be nearly a whole month, a month that encompassed his imprisonment and the whole adventure that had followed.

"I just wish you would have told me sooner," Lia sighed. "Maybe this whole thing could have been prevented."

"I really don't know about that, Lia," Jorec responded. "Maybe this was meant to happen, something to actually stop me from lying to myself about who I was. How could I really tell you the truth, if I could barely even face it myself? For the longest time I tried to run away from who I was."

"Who are you?" Lia asked. "Are you the same person I fell in love with?"

Jorec knew the answer to her question, and he realized that he had always known it. "I think I am," he replied. "The only thing that's really changed about me is my past, I still feel like the same person I was a month ago. And, excluding the use of the Force, I still act like I did a month ago."

"You said something about a crash, what happened after you last saw me?"

"I returned home," Jorec replied. "And I was ambushed by some Stormtroopers. They must have had orders to bring me in alive, because no matter how many of them I killed in self-defense, they kept firing stun bolts at me. They eventually got me.

"I woke up in a Star Destroyer's detention cell, still dazed from the stun shots. And then they…" Jorec's voice trailed off, remembering the torture he had been subjected to was still hard to do. "They tried to turn me to the Dark Side, or at least that was their plan. I eventually gave in, and confessed that I was a Jedi. I'm just glad they never found out about you," Jorec ended.

"Why? What would have happened to me?"

"They would have done anything to get me to fall," Jorec answered. "Anything…"

Lia shuddered as she realized what he meant.

"They put me on this ship, I believe it was used in the Clone Wars to transport prisoners, and I stayed there for Force knows how long. I think that something must have gone wrong with the hyperdrive, because apparently the ship hit the gravity well of a planet and crashed onto the surface.

"There were only three survivors of my cellblock; Rinoco, myself, and another Rebel named Banth. He was killed when the surviving Stormtroopers found us in the evidence room, but not before revealing to me that I should go to Alderaan. He said that Bail Organa's a Jedi supporter, and that he would hide me. We managed to escape the planet when a rescue ship arrived several days later. We went another inhabited planet near this system and unloaded our prisoners, and that's where we got this ship."

"I had heard that you were arrested for treason and conspiracy on the HoloNews," Lia said after a moment of thinking. "But I guess they didn't tell the full story."

"The only treason I committed was when I killed a few Stormtroopers when I attempted to escape them in my apartment," Jorec replied. "You said that you had something tell me, a few minutes before the military vehicles caught up with us."

Lia nodded her head, wondering how Jorec would actually take the news. "Jorec," she said while looking at his face. "I'm pregnant…"


	26. Chapter XXV

Chapter XXV 

"She's _pregnant_," Jorec whispered to himself as he struggled to get comfortable in the small crewbeing's bunk that served as his new bed. It was easily better than the cots he had been forced to sleep on during his imprisonment, but it was far removed from the bed in the first mate's cabin that he had given to Lia after her arrival on the ship.

"What am I going to do?" he added. "No, scratch that, what are _we _going to do?" he quickly amended, realizing that Lia probably had even more say over the matter than he did. After all, she was going to be the one to carry the child for all of the eight months that it would develop. His mind went over the many possibilities, and checked over how their relationship had been going since they had escaped from Selvernos. At this time, he didn't have much data to go by. All that had happened in past three hours since she had told him was him telling her about his real early life, she was curious about life in the Jedi Temple, and what it was like to live life as a Jedi.

If she was willing for the relationship to continue, which Jorec believed was entirely possible, he could always marry her like he had begun thinking about in the month prior to his capture. But how could he ask her without sounding like he was only going to marry her because he had gotten her pregnant? It would take eight days for the _Dancer's Dream_ to reach Alderaan; eight days for Jorec to find a way to properly ask her, if it was indeed a possibility, and eight days for him to completely regain her trust. He didn't want to be worried; yet this new information had changed everything about his life. What if the child was Force-sensitive? If the Empire ever found about his or her powers there would be no telling what they would do the child. No matter what happened, he would always worry about whether or not his child would be safe.

This made him wonder; when the Empire took over, did his own parents worry about him? How did they react when they heard the news of the so-called "Jedi Rebellion," and did they believe that story? A wave of guilt overcame him as he began thinking of his real parents, he barely even knew their names. And in the past eight years that he had been living on Selvernos he had never even attempted to contact them and let them know that he was still alive. He had concocted numerous excuses; fear that they would turn him in (which he knew was absolutely preposterous), anger at them for giving him up to the Jedi (a philosophy that was common in the early years), and finally the excuse that he didn't have enough time to do so. As he closed his eyes for another attempt at falling asleep, he promised himself that he would inform them about his survival as soon as he could.

The chronometer, set to Gevest's time zone while they had landed, reported the time as 1151 when Jorec finally managed to open his eyes. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up in the bed, cursing the late hour. He stepped out of his cabin, dressed in the same clothes he had worn the previous night, and was greeted by the laughter of Rinoco coming from the lounge.

"I don't see what's so funny about this," Jorec heard Lia say as he rounded the corner. On a screen near the table, two slythmongers were being chased by several security guards.

"It's great," Jorec replied as he took a seat at the table to watch the Holofilm, prompting both Rinoco and Lia to turn their attention away from the screen.

"We were getting kind of worried about you," Lia said. "It's almost noon."

"I couldn't sleep very well," Jorec replied. "Too busy thinking."

"Are you worried about what's going to happen?" Lia asked, pretty sure that she already knew the answer to her question.

"A little," Jorec replied. "OK, a lot," he finally truthfully replied.

"Hey, don't worry about anything you two," Rinoco said, unaware to the truth behind their conversation. "I'll get us safely to Alderaan. There were no TIEs left alive to discern our location." Rinoco looked at the slightly confused looks on Jorec's and Lia's faces and sunk in his chair as the two slythmongers on the screen finally made their escape. "All right, somehow I have a feeling that getting to Alderaan safely isn't what you two are worried about."

Jorec and Lia looked at each other, silently asking the other one who would actually tell Rinoco. "She's pregnant," Jorec finally said.

Rinoco nodded. "Oh, so that's what you two were worried about," Rinoco responded. "Don't look to me for advice," he added. "I have no experience on the subject."

"I really wasn't asking for advice," Jorec replied as he leaned back in his chair. "To tell the truth, I really wasn't expecting this at all."

"Neither was I," Lia chimed in. "I just found out that morning. Found out a lot of things yesterday," she added.

"It was a lot to spring on you at once," Jorec responded to her. "I know, I should have told you the truth sooner," he said, echoing her statement of the previous night. "There are a lot of things that keep running through my head. I mean, what if I had been killed. There were plenty of times in which I could have died. It would probably have been extremely hard on you; having to raise a potentially Force-sensitive child by yourself, without actually knowing the truth about me."

"It would have been extremely challenging," Lia replied. "Imagine the child, growing up thinking that his or her father was a traitor. If I would have ever told it about you…"

"I wouldn't have blamed you," Jorec admitted. "If you decide to have some new life after we reach Alderaan, I still wouldn't blame you," he added, hoping that it wouldn't come to that.

As Rinoco busted out into another fit of laughter at the antics of the comedic duo in the HoloFilm, Lia herself hoped that it didn't have to come to that. She was hoping to spend as much time as she could with Jorec on the trip to Alderaan, looking for a glance at the "real Jorec" that might actually be the same one she met over a year previously. So far, despite the limited amount of time with him, he didn't seem that different at all.

An empty cargo hold inside of the nearly abandoned cargo compartment of the _Wayfarer_-class vessel provided the perfect place for meditation. Hardly any of the other two people on board the ship visited the area at all, and Jorec was well away from the humming of the engines that filled the lounge.

"Come in," he told the familiar presence at the door before it could even knock.

"That's kind of creepy," Lia said as she entered the room.

Jorec smiled at her comment. "Sorry," he replied. "I guess I should have let you knock."

"It's fine," Lia added. "I just wanted to be near you, I guess. What are you doing?" she asked as she sat down on the floor next to him.

"Meditating," Jorec replied as he turned to face Lia. "And before you ask 'about what?' I might as well answer that question. I meditate on the Force, and about pretty much anything else."

"How did you know that's what I was going to ask?" Lia asked suspiciously. "Did you read my mind or something?"

Jorec shook his head and let out a slight chuckle. "No, I didn't," he answered her question. "It just seemed like the most logical follow up question." He picked up the tone of her last question and remembered some of her actions of the past few days, and that coupled with a slight case of paranoia he came to his conclusion. "Are you afraid of me, Lia?" he asked her.

She slightly paused, thinking over the answer to his question. It was true that his Force powers were something that she had never seen before, and every once and a while the appearance of a new power startled her. It was the result of ten years of propaganda that was still struggling to control her behavior. "No, I'm not," she answered his question. "Why do you think that?"

"Just kind of the way you've been acting around me," Jorec replied. "A few questions that you've asked."

"I'm not afraid of what you are, Jorec. It's just going to take some getting used to, that's all."

Jorec let her words sink in for a minute before finally responding. "Does that mean you've made a decision?"

Lia nodded her head. "I have. And I'm sure by now you can guess what I've decided."

It seemed like a weight was lifted off of Jorec's shoulders. "I'm not going to lie to you again, Lia," he told her. "It's going to be tough. The Empire is going to be hunting us, and I really don't know to what degree they're going to do it in. There's going to be some significant risks."

"There were risks when you came back to Selvernos, wasn't there? You were willing to take them, so am I."


	27. Chapter XXVI

Chapter XXVI 

Lia had heard of Jorec's emotional scars before, Jorec had even told her about having to see a psychologist early on in their relationship, but she had never actually experienced them like this before. She was jolted awake from a pleasant sleep by the sudden movements of the man laying next to her. They were accompanied by barely silenced cries of terror. She cautiously rolled over onto her side under the blanket, turning to face him.

Jorec was already awake by the time she had finally faced him, although she couldn't tell whether or not it was the nightmare that had awoken him or her reaction to it. "Jorec?" she asked as she placed a hand upon his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

A temporarily disoriented Jorec drew in a sharp breath, an action that caused Lia to quickly withdraw her hand. He paused for a few seconds, seemingly sensing the entire area using the Force, before answering her. "Yeah," he groggily replied as he sat up in the bed. He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the dim light, his fingers feeling tears that had been shed during the dream. "Just a nightmare."

"About the clones?" Lia asked, remembering the story he had told her about the betrayal that had left him on Selvernos ten years previously.

Jorec nodded before turning his head to face her. "They still happen from time to time," he answered. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"I know you still have them," Lia replied. "You told me that when they were still about your 'father.' And you don't have to apologize for having them or waking me up when you do. I know if I went through what you did, I'd probably have nightmares as well." She hesitated for a moment, wondering if it would be all right to ask her next question. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know what there is to say that I haven't already told you over the last seven days," Jorec answered. "But yeah, I think it'll be good to talk about it."

The bluish-white view of hyperspace reverted back into the familiar view of stars as the _Wayfarer_-class transport reverted back into realspace in the Alderaan system. Through the viewport of the bridge, Jorec could barely see the blue and green planet of Alderaan as it slowly began to appear. Jorec had heard from the dying Banth that the ruler of Alderaan, Bail Organa, could be trusted. Even though he had never even met the man, Jorec knew Organa's reputation as a friend of the Jedi and felt that the Senator could be trusted.

"We're almost there," Rinoco said as he punched in commands in the console in front of him. "Where's our destination?"

"Aldera," Jorec replied, remembering the name of the peaceful planet's capital city.

"Good, because they're asking us for our destination right now," Rinoco said. "Push that blinking button to your left," the Xexto told Lia, who promptly replied.

"_Wayfarer_-class vessel," the monotone voice of a droid reported through the speakers in the bridge of the vessel. "We are picking you up on our sensors. Please input flight data."

Rinoco quickly turned towards another console near him, two of his arms working on relaying the message while the other two made sure that the autopilot was firmly engaged.

"Looks like we've got another message," Rinoco muttered under his breath. "What is it now?"

A prerecorded image of a man that only Jorec recognized appeared on the front vidscreen of the bridge. The current image of the man was different from the holoimages he had seen many years ago but it was still Bail Organa. "Senator Organa, this is Jorec…" his voice trailed off and a wave of embarrassment came over him as the realization dawned on him that he was talking to a recording. Jorec barely saw the young ten-year-old girl on the Senator's knee as he began explaining Alderaan's anti-weapon policies and the low crime of the planet. In Jorec's mind, the law against weapons on the planet was going to be bad. Surely the law didn't apply to Stormtroopers, and if worse came to worse they would be stuck defenseless against a well-armed foe.

He adjusted the crash webbing around his shoulders as the _Wayfarer_-class vessel entered the atmosphere, watching as the plains near Aldera grew larger in the transparisteel window. In the distance he could see mountains that easily rivaled those of Selvernos, making him slightly homesick. For ten years, Selvernos had been his home and the realization that he would never see the planet again hit him hard. He looked at Lia, knowing that she probably felt the same way. She had actually been born on the planet and had spent her entire life on it. She would probably want to contact her parents as well once they had made contact with the real Bail Organa. _They are not going to take this news very well_, Jorec thought as he could see the conversation in his head. They hadn't really liked him in the first place, going along with the stereotypes that the hunters had. And now with the story of her running off with a man wanted for treason along with carrying his child… If they ever went back to Selvernos, the Empire wouldn't be the only people he would have to worry about.

Through the viewport, he could see what appeared to be a massive arrangement of flowers as the _Dancer's Dream_ rapidly descended near the plains. From afar, the arrangement of flowers had morphed into a picture of several huge pillars in a desert-like setting. Jorec quickly got Lia's attention and pointed out the grass painting to her. She leaned against her crash webbing, trying to get a good view of the beautiful work of art that was planted in the ground.

"I've seen these in books and Holobroadcasts, but I've never seen one of these in person before," she said as she marveled at the representation of the Castle Lands.

"I've never even seen a representation of them," Jorec replied as the voice of Bail Organa explained the process of the grass paintings, the meticulous work of the artist that also had to have considerable gardening skills. Jorec took another look at Lia as she searched the horizon for any more of the works of art. For the past few days, he had been waiting for a reason, and he considered the present to be the perfect time.

"Lia," he began, hoping to turn her attention away from the grass paintings outside. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Jorec," Lia replied.

"And there's something I need to ask you," he continued. "And I'm not asking you this because you're pregnant. I've wanted to ask you this since even before our child was conceived, and, like a like a lot of things, my capture kind of forced me to ask you this now. Lia, will you marry me?"

Lia looked stunned for a moment, not expecting him to ask her this soon. "Yes, I will," she finally answered.


	28. Chapter XXVII

Chapter XXVII 

Jorec, Lia, and Rinoco walked through the royal palace on Alderaan, oblivious to the wonderful works of art that their tour guide was showing them. All three of them had better things on their minds than the different forms of art that were present in the museum. They had to find a way to get in contact with Bail Organa and all other forms of communicating with him other than face-to-face was going to be extremely risky. Any other method would be filtered through several security filters and ran the risk of either never getting into the Senator's hands, or being discovered by a Pro-Imperial secretary. Either way, with the situation they were in now, neither needed to happen.

"As you can see, this painting is a typical example of the Fifth Era of Alderaanian Art," the tour guide said as he continued to walk through the collection. The painting was yet another picture of what appeared to be the same lake and mountain combo Jorec had seen in two other paintings in the tour. The trio continued to follow the tour guide, looking for anyone that might actually help them. They didn't know that they were the ones being watched.

"All right, sir, I see them now," the security guard spoke into his comlink. "How should this go down?"

"Peacefully," was the reply. "They haven't done anything wrong yet, just send them to me for questioning."

"What if they fight back?"

"My sources says that they won't, but be cautious. And if worse comes to worse, don't stun the woman."

"Sir?" the guard asked.

"You have your orders, bring them to me."

"Yes sir."

The person in charge of the operation nervously drummed his fingers on the desk._ I wish I could bring them in myself, _he thought. _It would be much easier than getting others to do it, and there may be far more questions…_

The security guard slowly walked up to his targets, trying to get the three separated from the main group of tourists in the art museum. He hoped that they wouldn't cause a scene, wouldn't cause a situation that would lead to the possibility of others getting hurt. "Excuse me," he said to the three people. "Someone would like to have a word with you." He could see the Xexto become physically shaken, the potential for ugliness increased by about 25. The human male seemed to tense up for a second before apparently calming down about a second later.

Aided by the voice that had helped him so many times in the past, Jorec nodded his head at the unseen security guard. "Take us to him then," he replied, mentally seeing the look of surprise on Lia and Rinoco's faces. "I do suppose you want to follow us in case we 'decide to do anything foolish?'"

"Yeah," the security guard said, wondering how this guy could know what he was going to say. "Take the next right."

Of the three people in the group, only Jorec walked completely calmly down the hallways of the Royal Palace. They were now far past the portion of the giant castle that was open to the general public and some of the beautiful artwork was now replaced with more functional decorum. He could feel Lia slowly tug on his shirt, and he leaned in her direction to hear her speak.

"What's going on?" she whispered as she walked beside of him. "Anything wrong?"

"I don't believe so," he replied. "Just trust me on this, the both of you." The last four words were clearly aimed at Rinoco, who seemed seconds away from panicking completely.

"Is this some kind of 'Force thing' that's telling you this?" Lia whispered to her fiancé.

"Odd hunches," Jorec replied. "Another thing you're going to have to get used to…"

After several minutes of walking in the palace, the three were led to a simple metallic door. There was no name on the outside of the room, causing Jorec to begin to wonder on whether or not to be worried about what waited behind the door.

The door opened, and a simple desk came into view. The alien behind the desk was dressed in the robes of an important politician, and gray fur lined his body. The fur continued up his body until reaching the snout, which was completely hairless. A Caamasi. Jorec struggled with his memory, trying to place the familiar face with a name. He had remembered seeing this very same being inside of the Jedi Temple, and he was glad to see another survivor of the Clone Wars.

"Master It'kla, if I remember your name correctly," Jorec greeted the Caamasi Jedi Master after the security guard left the room.

"I don't believe I have actually seen you before," Ylenic replied. "However, it is obvious that you have had some training in the Force, which is why I was able to know of your presence in the Palace."

"Good, we were kind of wondering how to actually get in contact with someone in charge here," Jorec said. "Meeting a Jedi Master wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it's obviously a pleasant surprise. My name's Jorec Merridon, by the way. You probably don't remember me because I was just a Padawan when—you know."

The Caamasi lowered his head, and seemingly sighed in relief. "It is a relief to know that someone so young managed to survive that chaos. You seem only to be—what? Twenty-five?"

"Twenty-three actually," Jorec replied. "And it's a miracle that I actually survived at all." Jorec once again relayed the tale of his survival of Order 66 and the sacrifice that Merrick Fionst and Sen Udo-Mal had performed to ensure that survival. Another brief retelling of his life following his survival was next, with much of the focus being on the events of the last year. "If you don't mind me asking," Jorec asked after finally finishing his story several minutes later, "how did you survive? I haven't seen that many Jedi remaining, although I do know that they do exist."

"I was on Corellia when the Order was betrayed," he answered. "I was quite fortunate, and realized something was wrong when I watched the HoloNews reporting on the burning of the Temple."

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what can you do to help us?" Lia asked.

"Technically, I can do nothing," Ylenic replied, quickly raising his hand to silence the objection that was about to be uttered by all three of the visitors. "I'm only an advisor. However, I _can_ get you an audience before Bail Organa. He's in a greater position than me to help you. Unfortunately, he is currently away with his family for a short vacation, he's due to be back tomorrow. I can arrange quarters for you, if you'd like."

"What about that security guard?" Rinoco asked. "Won't he find it suspicious that nothing happened regarding the people he brought in?"

"That's already been taken care of," Ylenic replied. "A simple case of mistaken identity. Is there anything else you need?"

"Yes," Jorec replied. "I need to borrow some Holorecording equipment. I think there are two people who need to know I'm alive more than anyone else does."

"Mom! Dad! Someone dropped some datapad at the door before running off," the sixteen-year old Calena Merridon replied as she shut the door of her parents' apartment on Coruscant.

"Did you recognize them?" her mother replied.

"I didn't get a good look at them. Want to see what's on this thing?"

Her mother walked into the room, followed shortly by her father. The mother took the datapad from Calena and examined it. "It seems to have a Holorecording on it," she said. "Wonder what it is…"

A young man appeared from the datapad's holoemitter, a young man that looked strangely familiar. "Hello, this may be hard for you to believe, but I assure you that every word of it is true," the holographic figure began.

"I wish I could actually explain these things to you personally, but with you living on Coruscant, it's just too risky. The same goes with a live transmission. I do suppose I should introduce myself first, my name is Jorec Merridon. Yes, _that_ Jorec Merridon…"

"No kriffin' way!" Calena exclaimed as she saw the face of her brother for the first time, only to quickly apologize for her harsh language.

"How is this possible?" Jorec's mother whispered as her son continued his introduction.

"—nd there are several things that have happened, so all of you better sit down. This is going to take a while."

It did take a while, and it was a lot to take for Jorec's family. He had survived the events that took place at the end of the Clone Wars after all, and wasn't even in the Temple at all when it burned. His life on Selvernos was covered, and the parents quickly recovered from the shocking news that they were going to be grandparents. Absent from the report, however, was the news of Jorec's capture by the Empire, a casualty for the sole purpose of not wanting to worry them more than they already were.

"I hope that one day I could actually see you face to face, maybe when the Empire is gone and the Republic is restored. I just want to let you know that I'm safe, mom and dad. And that I love you two very much. I don't blame you for sending me off to the Jedi, and I never did. Until we actually meet again, may the Force be with you."


	29. Chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXVIII 

"There's something I've been thinking about," Jorec told Lia in the empty office of Bail Organa. They were supposed to meet the Senator of Alderaan inside of his office thirty minutes ago, but they soon received word that both of his adopted daughters had come down with a nasty case of Alderaanian Measles and needed to see a medical droid. It was estimated that this much-needed delay would only take a half-hour. "I wanted to ask you before I actually planned on going through with it."

"What is it?" Lia asked.

"Ever since meeting Master It'kla, I've realized that an opportunity has arisen. I can complete my training as a Jedi; be better able to protect our baby, you, and myself if the Empire ever finds us again."

"It's fine with me," Lia said after a few seconds of thinking the options over. "If that's what you really want to do. Don't do it just for me."

"It isn't just for you," Jorec replied. "After my capture, I've actually given it a lot of serious thought."

"Speaking of training, what if our child's Force-sensitive?" she asked. "Are you going to want to train him or her?" Yet in her mind was a far different question. If the child was Force-sensitive, what exactly was going to happen? Were Force-sensitive children so hard to raise that parents shipped them off to the Jedi? She mentally reminded herself to ask Master It'kla the next time she saw him.

"It's best we discuss that when we actually learn if he or she has the potential to be trained," Jorec answered her. "And at this point, I really don't know if I want to train him or her. I doubt I'd be the best teacher."

The sound of the door opening ended their conversation. The two of them turned their heads to see Bail Organa enter the room. "Greetings," the Alderaanian senator said as he sat in his seat behind the desk. "It's always nice to see another Jedi that has survived," he began. "Especially after what I saw happen."

"The Temple burning," Jorec began, calling to his mind the images of the "Jedi Rebellion" that he had viewed in numerous history datapads. "It must have been horrible to see when you're actually on the planet."

Bail Organa wished that he didn't have to remember what he had actually seen, and he secretly hoped that the Jedi didn't want to know. _He's only 23,_ Bail Organa thought. _Must have been 13 when it happened._ "I was actually there," he admitted. "I saw the commotion happen at the Temple, and I had to take a look for myself."

Jorec gritted his teeth, knowing full well of the descriptions that would no doubt await. "Lia, honey, you might want to step out of the room for a while," he cautioned her. "It's going to be disturbing, and I'm not even sure if I want to hear it."

"I can put two and two together, Jorec," she replied with a look of both sadness and horror on her face. "You told me that you were an infant when the Jedi. The Empire killed them, didn't they?" she asked despite already knowing the answer. The only thing that Bail Organa could do was silently nod.

"Are you both okay for me to continue?" Bail asked after a few seconds of silence. "When I landed I was 'greeted' by the forces of the 501st Legion," he began after seeing both of his guests nodding. "They simply told me to leave the premises. That there was a rebellion going on.

"It was then that I figured out that it wasn't what it seemed to be. The clone troopers practically threatened my life unless I left the premises of the Temple immediately. It was then that a survivor made his presence known."

"A survivor?" Jorec asked. "In the Temple?"

"It was a young boy, by the name of Zett Jukassa. Or at least, that's what the Imperial records called him. He almost made it out," Bail continued. "He cut down several Clone Troopers on the way to my speeder; he must have been hiding and found his chance for escape. He was cut down by the troops just a few meters from my speeder. It was then that I decided to help any Jedi I could. Help them survive that massacre."

"Hold on a second," Jorec interrupted. "What was that you said about 'Imperial records?'"

"A few months after the Temple burned, Pestage compiled a list of almost all of the Jedi that were killed and the 'reason' why they were executed. It's complete Imperial propaganda, you should pay no attention to it."

"I have to know," Jorec replied. "What did they say about a Master Merrick Fionst and any Padawan of his?"

"I have it on my computer," Bail Organa answered. "I can have it pulled up almost immediately."

"Can you please do that?"

"Okay, the full Imperial excuse on why they murdered Master Fionst," Bail Organa responded about a minute later.

"General Fionst, Merrick. Assigned to the 135th Legion with CT-4599, also known as Commander Hal. Upon receiving their order to rebel upon the news of the death of Separatist General Grievous, Jedi Fionst and his Padawan (name unknown) proceeded to attempt a terrorist action inside of the Republic base. General Fionst was in the process of planting a Class Five explosive inside of the main barracks. Attempts to talk Fionst out of his action failed, and it was with great sadness that 4599 was forced to execute the general. Two other Jedi were also executed nearby for similar attempt. Fionst's Padawan was accidentally killed while attempting to flee from custody. A hearing was subsequently scheduled.

"Addendum: After a two week long hearing, CT-1990 and CT-0091 were cleared of any wrongdoing in the death of the young Padawan."

"You were right, Senator, complete Imperial propaganda," Jorec responded after hearing the official version of his Master's murder and of his supposed death.

"Why were you so interested?" Bail sat for a second before figuring it out. "That unnamed Padawan is you, isn't it Jorec?"

"It was," Jorec simply replied. "Now, where were you?"

"I believe I was explaining about my initial actions of helping the Jedi. I departed Coruscant in my ship, determined to save as many lives as I could. I found two Jedi that had survived: Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"So two members of the Council were still alive!" Jorec exclaimed. "What about the others? Master Windu, Master Ti, Master Skywalker…" Jorec could sense something wrong with Bail Organa's mental reaction to the name of Skywalker. "Senator, what about Master Skywalker?"

"I shouldn't be telling you this," Bail Organ began to say. "You two do have a right to know, however. It may save your lives in the long run. Anakin Skywalker was the reason why the Jedi were destroyed. According to Masters Kenobi and Yoda, he joined the Sith."

Despite his best attempts otherwise, Jorec's face betrayed the shock he felt upon hearing the announcement. Anakin Skywalker had betrayed the Order. The Chosen One had not destroyed the Sith as was prophesized, but he had destroyed the Jedi.

Lia, however, didn't even make an attempt at hiding her reaction. The Jedi hero she had heard about in the news reports as a child had destroyed the Republic. And in his new form, he was effectively responsible for the violence that had happened when Jorec and she had escaped from Selvernos.

It was then that Jorec remembered someone from the news archives. And as he put his arm around Lia he couldn't help but shudder. "Anakin is Darth Vader, isn't he?"

"As far as I know, yes," Organa replied. "If you somehow get a message from him, don't reply to it. They already attempted to that by having a beacon in the Temple order all Jedi to return to Coruscant."

"You say that Master Kenobi and Yoda survived," Jorec began, quickly putting the shocking news of Vader's identity aside as more pressing matters entered his mind. He would have time to ponder Anakin's betrayal of the Jedi Order later. "What of the others?"

"I'm afraid that most of them are dead, Jorec. Several of my subordinates were able to save about twelve other Jedi, but I don't know of their current locations, or even if they're still alive."

"We need hiding," Jorec said. "The Empire found out about me, and tried to kill both my fiancé and myself on Selvernos. I know that it sounds rude, but I have three people to worry about here, myself included."

"Yes, Master It'kla did tell me about the child you two are expecting. I offer my congratulations."

"Thank you," Lia said. "We really do need a place where this Empire and Darth Vader can't find us. We've come to believe that you can help us. Can you?"

"I've exhausted a lot of my connections in the past ten years," Bail began. "However, it probably is possible. However, living here on Alderaan is out of the question. What with Ylenic already here and that recent fiasco involving a grass painting offending a visiting Palpatine, an additional Jedi presence here could be disastrous. I do, however, have several friendly contacts that could help you. Most of them are senators, although many are somewhat wary of harboring Jedi after what happened on Naboo nine years ago."

"I heard about that on the Holonews when I was a teenager," Lia said. "There was a cover story, however, about the Empire trying to save the queen."

"They were trying to save the Queen, alright. Just like they had to execute Master Fionst for planting a bomb on the base…" Jorec added sarcastically. "Who are these contacts? If I may ask."

Bail Organa slid a datapad towards the two. Jorec picked it up and began to read the names contained on the datapad. The names were of people from various planets: a senator from Chandrila, another senator from Galagos, a security officer from Corellia, and a senator from Brodo Asogi were among the names.

"I'm sure that all of these people are entirely trustworthy?" Jorec asked the Alderaanian senator.

"As far as I know, yes," Bail replied.

"Why can't you help us personally?" Lia asked.

"I am helping you personally," Bail Organa replied. "It's just that those people on the datapad are in a far greater position to help you than I can."

"You're hiding something, that's obvious," Jorec stated. "You're frightened of what the Empire would do if they found out about your harboring Jedi. But it's someone else you're worried about, not yourself. Your daughters, perhaps?"

"Very perceptive," Bail Organa replied to the questions. "Yes, I fear what the Empire would do if they found out about one of my daughters."

"Normally, I'd ask why, but I can see that you're not going to tell me," Jorec said. "Not for my ears, I guess."

"No, that information isn't for you to hear. At least not yet."

"Is the information about Yoda's whereabouts for me to hear?" Jorec asked. "As I was telling Lia before you arrived, I would like to complete my training."

Bail Organa nodded before speaking. "Yes, I know where Master Yoda is hiding. I cannot tell you where inside of this office, but you will find out. Now, I have to go. I have an important meeting with a fellow senator." He showed the two out of the door before returning to his seat. The two of them seemed trustworthy enough; and if the eavesdropping Ylenic had picked up on any signs that they weren't, he would have quickly interrupted the meeting. He smiled. The Empire would one day fall, hopefully by the idea of an all-out rebellion he had been toying around with in his mind since the Empire had begun. A young man like Jorec would certainly be a great asset to any potential rebellion.


	30. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

The holographic image of a developing fetus floated in the air of an Alderaanian medical facility. A medical droid was studying the data, making sure that everything was developing healthily. "The child is developing within normal parameters," the droid said with it's almost personality devoid voice, making both Jorec and Lia regret not actually getting an organic doctor. "At the moment, we are not able to determine the gender of the fetus. A further examination will yield greater results," the droid continued. "Would you like me to schedule a follow up appointment for one month from now?"

"No," Lia answered, already annoyed by the droid. "We'll schedule another appointment later." _With another medical droid or an organic doctor_, she mentally added. She stood up out of her chair and walked outside of the medical office. She could hear Jorec and someone else speaking about something relating to Selvernos. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Something for you," Jorec replied as he handed a datapad to her. "He didn't say where it was from," Jorec said as he pointed to the man standing next to him, "save for a local resistance cell in Gevest. Probably the same one that delivered the message to your parents almost a month ago."

"Could it be a response?"

"Could be," Jorec replied as the deliverer of the message walked out of the medical facility. "I'd hate to hear what it has to say if it is, however. You didn't tell them the truth about me."

"At your own request," Lia reminded him. "Whatever bad things they have to say about you is your fault."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Jorec groaned as the two began to walk back to their room in the Alderaanian Royal Palace. "You might not be treated with complete respect either," he warned her. "I might have to explain to them the complete reason for your sudden departure from the planet."

"If it has to come to that…"

"Everyone in this galaxy will know I'm a, you know, in about twenty years the way I'm going," Jorec joked, hiding the word Jedi from any potential eavesdroppers in the few people that walked the streets of Aldera.

"Hopefully in twenty years it won't matter if someone's one or not," Lia replied. "This Empire has to fall sometime."

"The sooner the better, but with two Sith in power, I doubt it's going to be over in the near future."

The two eventually arrived in their living space in the royal palace. Lia sat in a chair inside of the general room and activated the datapad. A two-dimensional image of Lia's father appeared before her, his slightly graying and balding head appearing from the projector. From his face came an expression of both joy and shock over what the previous message had reported. The timestamp on the edge of the recording put the date that the message was recorded on at two weeks previously. According to what he had heard from one of Organa's couriers, Lia's father had recorded this message a mere day after receiving his own message.

"We're glad to hear that you're safe, Lia," her father began. "Your mother and I were frightened to hear about that shootout that occurred at your apartment. It still amazes me that you were able to survive that thing at all. I suppose that that's _one_ good thing that Jorec is capable of doing. Although it that shootout would have never happened if that traitor hadn't have shown his face. Hell, if you had never gotten involved with him in the first place--"

_Here he goes_, Jorec thought as Lia's father began his rant. _Everything that is wrong about me, with most of the stuff being false._

"You should have listened to me a year ago when I said that he wasn't the kind of person that you should be dating. It seems that recent events have proven my original thoughts to be correct! He is a terrorist that was captured, tried, and imprisoned for attempting to bring down the Empire!" Lia's father exclaimed as he tried to yell some misguided sense into his daughter.

"He says that like it's a bad thing," Jorec responded to no one in particular.

"—and now you've gotten yourself knocked up by him. You two aren't even married! I told you that's all those people at Sentiss wanted out of woman, their bodies. I bet he isn't there now; he probably skipped out as soon as he found out."

_How dare he say those things? _Jorec thought as anger began to rise throughout him. _He knows _nothing _about me!_ After a few seconds he quickly calmed down, realizing that Mr. Garent's opinions on him weren't based on the "real" Jorec. Although he knew that if Mr. Garent knew the entire truth, the man still wouldn't like him anyway.

The tape continued, making more scathing remarks against Jorec and every once and a while questioning Lia about her decision making abilities. The big shocker that the holorecording contained was yet to come, however.

Lia nearly dropped the datapad she held in her hands after her father had finished speaking. "He—he practically disowned me," she whispered. She felt Jorec's hand rest on her shoulder, and she knew that he was trying his best to comfort her at the moment. The ultimatum was simple: she had to leave where ever she was and return home. If she refused to, her family would sever almost all contact with her.

"They're trying to get you to return home," Jorec softly said. "Even though your father obviously doesn't like me, and probably never will, they only want you to be safe."

"Are you actually trying to convince me to go back?" Lia asked him.

"I'm just saying, like I did before, that there are going to be dangers if you stay with me. You're going to be hunted just for the simple fact that I love you. I want you to be safe too, you know. I'm not trying to convince you to do anything."

"But you do want me to go back…" Lia whispered as a feeling of loneliness began to come over her.

"Personally, no," Jorec replied. "Sometimes I feel selfish in wanting you to stand by me, though. I feel terrible about putting you in so much danger. You heard what your father said, and what you saw back on Gevest. They're actively hunting for you just because of me!" He paced around the room, the stress of the events of the past two months finally catching up with him.

"I told you on the _Dancer's Dream_ that I was willing to take those risks," Lia said as she watched him pace.

"I know you said that," Jorec sighed. "It just seems like it's hard for _me_ to actually accept those risks sometimes." Jorec stopped pacing in front of a painting depicting a sunset near the Royal Palace. "A lot of bad stuff has happened to me, Lia, and at times I don't want for you to be caught up in it."

"I'm already caught up in it," Lia answered as her voice started to rise. "I hope you remember that about two months ago there were Imperial Stormtroopers were quite actively shooting at me!"

"That memory is exactly what caused me to start this conversation," Jorec replied. "They were shooting at you because of me, your father is nearly disowning you because of me, Master Fionst died to save me!" It was then that the root of the issue was finally exposed. Even though the years of therapy had caused Jorec to finally accept that the deaths of the other Jedi that had been betrayed by the 135th Legion on Selvernos wasn't his fault, these feelings were unfortunately back, a side effect of the recent string of events.

"Do you think every single one of those things is entirely your fault?" Lia simply asked.

"Sometimes it feels like it," was the answer she received. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I shouldn't have gone off like that." Jorec slowly walked towards Lia, and kissed her forehead. "I need to go meditate, alone, for a while. I'll be back in two or three hours, so don't worry about me."

"I'm not going to jump if that's what you're worried about," Jorec said an hour later to the small group of security guards that had assembled near the balcony he had been meditating on.

"Ms. Garent is worried about you, sir," a guard replied.

"I know she is," Jorec replied. _I can feel it from here_, he thought. "Two of you can stay here if it'll make her stop worrying so much. They have to be quiet, though."

"Sir?" the head guard questioned.

"Humor me," Jorec replied. He looked up towards the Alderaanian night sky, seeing the stars as he did so. A few constellations were visible in the sky, some that were even visible from Selvernos in winter. Alderaan had no moons, a fact that Jorec hadn't truly gotten used to yet, despite staying on the planet for over a month already. That was surely a product of living on a planet with two moons for a little under half of his life. He closed his eyes again and attempted to meditate on his problems. It wasn't going to be easy, but with the Force as his ally and with the help of Lia and what few friends he had, he was sure that he would finally defeat the problems he had acquired nearly eleven years previously.

Before he began to meditate again, he made a mental list of things he needed to do in the very near future: speak with Master It'kla about what happened during the end of the Clone Wars and try to get some advice on how to handle the guilt, talk with Senator Organa about finding Master Yoda's location (even though he wasn't planning on leaving Alderaan until his and Lia's child was born), and finally make sure that Lia knew that he still loved her and wanted her to stay with him. And as Jorec finally felt the calm presence of the Force around him, he knew that that last thing he thought of was the most important to him, he had known it all along.


	31. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

"Jorec, I felt him move!" Lia exclaimed as she walked towards what would be her husband in less than three hours.

Jorec walked up to her, and tentatively placed a hand onto her expanding stomach, feeling the fabric of her simple blue wedding dress beneath his fingers. He also felt the slight kicking sensation of his son as the unborn child moved around in his mother's womb. "That has to hurt, doesn't it?" he asked after feeling what was more than likely a particularly rough kick.

"Let's just say that it's not exactly comfortable," Lia simply replied.

"I think I have to agree with you. We still have to name him, you know."

"I have a few names picked out," Lia began. "I'm sure you have some as well. I guess we can talk about it tomorrow."

"I still have to work on the finishing touches of my opening," Jorec replied, noticing the evil look he received from his soon-to-be wife. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not a poet!"

A few seconds later Lia began to laugh. "Neither am I, and I still haven't finalized my speech either. It's harder than I thought it would be when I was a little girl."

"How hard could it be?" Jorec sarcastically asked. "How hard is it to put into words how much you love someone? Not to mention that, normally, you'd have to do so in front of several people. Of course, we are recording the ceremony to send to both of our parents, so I have to attempt to convince him that I actually care about you."

"Speaking of my father, are you--" Lia began.

"Going to let the proverbial whisperkit out of the bag about me being a Jedi?" Jorec finished for her. "Why not? After all, Rinoco's probably the one that's actually going to say it anyway. I'm probably going to have to tell my parents about my capture as well."

"I told you that you should have told them about that," Lia replied.

"I didn't want them to worry," Jorec began to explain. "They had just found out that I was alive after ten years of assuming me to be dead, and I didn't want them to get the impression that I could be killed any minute."

"Isn't it possible that they believe that could happen already?"

"I assume they know the risks, but they don't know that the Empire is actively hunting us," Jorec replied. "I guess that they should, so that they don't get their hopes up about us actually meeting in person. After all, me going to Coruscant to visit them would be suicidal."

"That's to put it lightly."

Owing to the obvious privacy needs of the participants, the small room in which the wedding was to be held was all but empty. The only living things in the room were an Ithorian government official; selected because he was the only Pro-Jedi government official on Alderaan that lacked the distinctive Alderaanian accent, also in the room was Rinoco Teves. His presence in the room served a dual purpose: he was the witness to the marriage as well as the friend of the couple that was to introduce them.

With a simple gesture from the Ithorian, Jorec and Lia walked towards the front of the room. According to Selvernan custom, which stressed the feelings that the couple had for each other rather than an elaborate spectacle, they were dressed in simple clothes. It was almost as if they were dressed for a simple date rather than their wedding, although Jorec would have considered wearing Jedi robes rather than his inexpensive suit if he had been able to acquire some.

After the couple stopped in front of the Ithorian that would marry them shortly, Rinoco stood out of his seat and walked towards them. He turned to face the blue-domed R2 unit that was recording the ceremony for discreetly distributing it to the parents. As Rinoco used one of his right hands to remove a small datapad from his shirt, a feeling of sadness ran through Lia. It wasn't that she didn't consider Rinoco a friend, it was only that she knew several other people that she had wanted to perform the following speech. Obviously, those possible choices couldn't be able to attend.

"I—I haven't know Jorec and Lia for long time, only for a few months, yet I feel like I can safely say that this is a couple that truly loves each other. They've both been through a lot in the past months, to say the least, and all of their tribulations seemed to only bring them more together." Rinoco cleared his throat before continuing. "Especially his capture, but I'll let him tell that story later on," Rinoco conceded.

_Well, looks like the whisperkits are _definitely _out of the bag now,_ Jorec thought as he attempted to find a place to logically place the news of his capture in his coming speech.

About a minute later, Rinoco had finished his introduction speech. It was now time for Jorec to speak. One of most dreaded parts of Selvernan weddings for both the man and the woman was the part where they had to attempt to put their feelings towards the other into words. That part of the ceremony was a relic of a bygone era in which courtship rituals required the male to convince his bride-to-be's father of the sincerity of the relationship. Some time after the foundation of the Republic the concept had fallen out of vogue and was replaced by an early version of the tradition that was about to take place. About a hundred years later, the tradition was changed to allow women to speak of their feelings as well.

"Lia," he simply began, the nervousness of the situation beginning to slightly creep in despite the lack of many people in the room. "I know it seems completely cliché, but I felt some kind of connection with you when I first saw you. I can't really describe it, but I know that it wasn't just based on your beauty. It was in those early days of our relationship when I decided to do the stupid thing and lie to you about being a Jedi. With hindsight being as it is, those lies about my past could have been devastating. It's the one real regret I have.

"I realized early on that I loved you. It was an odd feeling for me to have when most of my life I've been told that love is forbidden. To tell the truth; it wasn't that odd of a feeling to shake." Jorec had to let loose a slight laugh at this last statement. "When the Empire captured me, I couldn't help but think about you. I was worried that somehow they were going to find out about you. I'm just glad they never found out about you until I messed up and gave you away. Perhaps one of the most important things," Jorec began, "was when you accepted me back after I told you that I was a Jedi. To tell you the truth, I really didn't expect that to happen. I'm glad that it did, however." Jorec continued for about a minute before concluding his speech with a simple declaration of love.

Lia looked at Jorec after he had finished speaking, knowing that it was now her turn. "Sometimes it seems like only yesterday that I met you. Kraat's drunken rant really introduced us, and in the following weeks when you visited the bookstore, we came to know each other even more. Even though your telling of your past wasn't 100 factually accurate, in that time I believe that got to know the real you.

"When you were captured I was angry at you, and that's because I didn't know the entire truth. I obviously had no idea that you were a Jedi, and my only information regarding your arrest was a propaganda-filled newscast. Then, hours after I had found out that I was pregnant, you come out nowhere and explain the whole thing to me. At first, the truth was a little hard to believe, but certain events soon spelled the end of that notion." She said as she remembered the feeling of Jorec leaping off of a third story balcony with her in his arms.

"You being a Jedi is still going to take a little getting used to, but I want you to know that you could have told me at anytime." She had meant that final phrase to be a symbol of trust, that at anytime during their relationship Jorec could have told her the entire truth. "I understand your reasoning, however." She also finished her speech with a simple declaration of her love for Jorec a little over a minute later.

"I thought you said earlier before that you weren't finished with your speech," Jorec whispered as Lia and him embraced. "That sounded like it took a while to write."

"I cheated. I used one of the Organa's protocol droids to help me finish it," Lia giggled.

"No wonder I couldn't find him," Jorec lamented.

The Ithorian official waited until the soon-to-be married couple ended their hug before continuing. "A couple embarking on the journey of marriage is truly an amazing occurrence," he read from a datapad containing Selvernan wedding customs. "It is an institution that is honored in form or another throughout the galaxy; two people deciding to officially commit to their relationship in the eyes of their families; or in this case, to a holorecorder that will send the ceremony to them. The few of us physically here have already seen Jorec and Lia go through the tradition of attempting to state their feelings for each other in words, now they will make their personalized vows. Jorec, as the one who proposed marriage, you will go first once again."

"It's in my opinion that my first vow is the most important promise that I can make," Jorec began. "I promise that I will love and care for you and our son as long as I live, and I will do my best to protect you both." There was, however, an unspoken addition to that promise. There were limitations on that promise, due to the ever-present concern over the Dark Side. He had privately confided with Lia about these concerns a few days after they had arrived on Alderaan, as well as spoken with Ylenic It'kla about the issue as well. They had both been extremely supportive of his concerns; but now was not the time to be thinking about such things.

"I also promise to be faithful to you. I've never strayed in our relationship, I've never even been tempted, and I won't be. You were the first woman that I ever loved and, Force willing, you'll be the last. I also promise to do my best to be a good husband to you. I obviously don't have a lot of experience in the subject, but I will do my best."

"Lia," the Ithorian official began after Jorec had finished, "it is now your turn."

"You are right about the first vow being possibly the most important," Lia replied to Jorec. "That's why almost every wedding begins with the promise you made, and that I will make. As long as I live I will love you, and I will do my best to be a good wife and a good mother, even though I have no experience in the matter either. I promise to be faithful to you as well. And lastly; I promise you that _I _will do _my _best to help you defend us. I didn't like the feeling of helplessness that happened back on Selvernos when the Empire was shooting at us, and I don't want it to happen again."

"Jorec," the Ithorian finally said after a slight pause to make sure that both of them had finished talking, "where your promises truthful?"

"Yes, they were."

"Lia, were yours?" the Ithorian asked.

"They were."

"Then by the authority originally granted to me by the Galactic Republic and kept by the Empire, I pronounce you husband and wife." The words were chosen carefully as to not offend the obvious dissidents in the room, and the official regretted that he was required to even mention the Empire at all. "You may now kiss."

It was then that Jorec and Lia shared their first kiss as husband and wife as Rinoco attempted to fill the room with applause with both pairs of his hands.


	32. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31 (8 BBY)**

"It looks like I was _finally_ able to pull you away from your mother, Gavin," Jorec whispered to his newborn son as he glanced over at his napping wife. Outside of the window, Alderaan's sun had just been obscured by the mountains to the west, sending twilight throughout the region. "You should have been born on Selvernos," Jorec lamented, missing the home planet that he had been essentially exiled from. "It's far more beautiful there." For his part, Gavin stared blankly at his father. "Well, that's just my opinion," Jorec replied. "I'm sure that the _Galactic Travel Book_ disagrees."

Jorec softly ran his hand through the light mass of brown hair on Gavin's head, an obvious trait of his mother's, and smiled. There was, however, a less than obvious thing that the newborn had inherited from his father. An inheritance that had come extremely close to causing all nine of the Corellian hells to break loose. Gavin was Force-sensitive.

It was the fact that Gavin could, and more than likely would, be born Force-sensitive that caused Jorec and Lia to choose a human doctor over a medical droid. Medical droids were known for their hard-headedness when it came to following all of the rules of medicine, human doctors could be convinced otherwise. They could also be "influenced" into breaking some rules.

The day had started out as a normal Satunda morning with Jorec retreating to an abandoned room inside of the royal palace. It was in this room that Jorec was able to freely practice the vital skill of deflecting blaster shots, a skill that could come in extremely handy one day. Halfway through his practice session, the call had come in from his wife: she had gone into labor. In the rush to reach his wife's side, Jorec had almost forgotten to conceal his lightsaber, a mistake that could have turned fatal if a tourist had seen it.

Ten hours later, Gavin Merridon entered the galaxy. It was also when the second close call that the Merridon family would experience that day would happen. Jorec let loose a frustrated sigh as he remembered the events that occurred just three hours previously.

"Okay," the doctor said as he moved to take the newborn baby after letting the parents hold him for what he deemed a sufficient amount of time, "it's time for some tests, just to make sure he's healthy."

Jorec looked at his wife while the doctor was preoccupied with the child, and watched as she gave a slight nod. It was the signal to begin the act that was about to follow, an act in which failure was not an option. Jorec had an inkling of an idea over what kind of tests that the doctor would run, and one in particular frightened him.

"What kind of tests are you talking about?" Jorec asked, easily playing the role of a concerned parent.

"General health tests," the doctor replied. "A non-invasive blood test to check for any genetic diseases that may have been passed down, counting the white blood cells, run a midichlorian count."

"Midi-what?" Jorec asked, playing dumb. It was as Lia and him had feared, a midichlorian count would obviously reveal the Force-sensitivity of Gavin, and who knew who might come knocking on the door after that test would be taken.

"They're microscopic organisms found in every living thing," the doctor replied as he began walking into an adjacent room. "You have midichlorians in your cells," the doctor explained.

_There's no doubt about that,_ Jorec thought, trying his best and succeeding to stop a smile from forming on his face.

"I have them, even your wife," the doctor continued.

"If everyone has them in their bloodstream, why the blood test for a count?" Jorec asked.

"There's typically a normal midichlorian level, it differs from species to species, but it's around the same number. Imperial researchers have linked a high amount of midichlorians to several conditions, some of which can lead to death," the doctor explained, and continued the explanation with medical technobabble that left Jorec's head reeling. To Jorec, this explanation was an interesting cover story. A cover story that the doctor had probably been indoctrinated with during medical school; yet there was a sliver of doubt in his mind, doubt that could prove extremely useful. "Healthy weight," the doctor proclaimed as he lifted the infant off of the scales.

Jorec looked inconspicuous as he glanced around the room, and he was glad to see that no one could see him at the moment. "Tell me doctor," he asked, "is the blood test really necessary?"

"Unfortunately yes, Mr. Merridon," the reply came back.

One last look for anyone that could possibly see what was about to happen, and a hope that his training in making rodents roll a small ball across a table in the Jedi Temple would be enough experience, and Jorec attempted it. "You don't think the tests are completely necessary?" Jorec asked with a miniscule movement of his hand. The subtle Force-influenced command had been in the form of a question, hopefully making the task of the doctor following it much easier.

Throughout his eight years of practicing medicine, the doctor had never questioned all of the tests that had been required for newborns. His university professors had never made any mention of links between midichlorians and certain diseases, and the Empire's scientists had never published entirely conclusive reports. "I don't think that the midichlorian test is completely necessary," the doctor replied.

Relief flooded Jorec's mind as the doctor had seemingly followed the Force-implanted suggestion, yet he had to be sure. "So you're not going to perform that part of the test?" Jorec asked.

"I don't think that it's necessary; so, no," the doctor repeated as he drew a minute sample of blood from the infant. "Everything appears to be normal," he said as he input data from his small data assistant into the main computer.

"Yes it is," Jorec said as the doctor handed Gavin back to him. He watched in satisfaction as the test strip in which the blood was gathered was thrown into a trash receptacle. His child was safe from detection, at least for now.

"Well," Jorec whispered he noticed his son beginning to fall asleep, "looks like its time for you to get some sleep. I think all three of us have had a very busy day, especially your mother."

He quietly walked into the baby's room, and gently placed his son in the simple crib that Lia had bought nearly a month ago. "Good night little one," he softly said as he covered the newborn up with a blanket.


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter 32 

Jorec knew as he walked through the hallway that led towards Bail Organa's office, knowing that this could very well be the last time he would walk through this passageway again. It had been two months since the birth of his son, and it was time for Jorec and Lia to move on. It was time for Jorec to attempt to complete the training that the rise of the Empire had prevented.

"Senator Organa," Jorec greeted the Alderaanian politician as the Jedi entered the office.

"Take a seat, Jorec," Bail Organa said as he pointed towards an empty chair on the opposite side of the desk.

"Thank you, senator," Jorec said as he sat down in the comfortable chair.

"How are Lia and Gavin doing?" Bail asked, wanting to get in some friendly conversation in before the two would talk business.

"They're doing quite well," Jorec replied. "Lia just got over a bout of the Alderaanian variant of the flu a few days ago, and we were scared to death that Gavin would come down with it as well, but nothing happened."

"I'm happy to hear that they are both well," Bail said. "I can assume why you're here," he added, changing the topic.

Jorec nodded his head. "Yes, it's about Master Yoda," he began. "I feel that it's been enough time to continue my training as a Jedi under one of the best that the Order had to offer."

"That's the reason," Bail said aloud. "I've had a while to think about that issue while you were own Alderaan. I hope I don't offend you when I say that at the beginning I was skeptical at the beginning about your intentions regarding wanting to meet with Yoda."

"You probably thought that I was going to go the Empire with his location, didn't you?" Jorec simply asked after nodding his head. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't 100 sure _I_ could trust _you_ at the beginning, what with everything that's happened. For men in our position, I think a little paranoia is entirely justified," Jorec stated.

"Yes," Bail Organa replied. "I can still remember the first time that I saw some of Palpatine's Force-sensitive goons and seeing a few Jedi that I had seen before in their roster. It's a jarring sight."

"I'm just glad that I haven't personally met them," Jorec said as he remember what the Voice had told him when he was captured, "and I really hope that I never will." Jorec slowly shook his head at the thought of the fallen Jedi that had joined forces with the very evil that had attempted to destroy them.

"For your family's sake, I hope you never will as well," Bail added. "There's another thing that I should talk to you about, before we speak about your training as a Jedi."

Jorec was puzzled by the turn of the conversation. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"As you know, I'm sure that Rinoco has already told you, that there have been a few cases of active rebellion against the Empire," Bail Organa said, bringing the subject of the Alderaanian resistance cell into light.

"Yeah, I think my arrest stemmed from a group of rebels," Jorec said. "I'm certainly aware of the existence of rebellion against the Empire. What does that have to do with anything that we've discussed?" Jorec pondered this for about a second until the realization finally dawned upon him. "You're behind one, aren't you?" Jorec asked.

"I give unofficial support as a leader of Alderaan," Bail Organa replied, "mainly in the form of protests at the local university at the moment. The Republic needs to be restored," he began.

"You're kind of speaking to the chorus here," Jorec responded, "I have concrete views on what I feel about this Empire. It's not hate, that's forbidden by the Jedi, but I can say without certainty that the Empire, at least under its current Sith leadership, needs to somehow go. What exactly does this rebellion plan to do to restore the Republic?" Jorec asked.

"It's ever increasingly obvious that being able to restore the Republic by peaceful means is next to impossible," Bail explained. "Active revolution seems to be the only way…"

"Forgive the question," Jorec began, "but what prevents you from becoming the very thing you're attempting to get rid of?" he asked. "If this rebellion somehow succeeds, what prevents you, or one of your daughters depending on how long this takes, from becoming another Palpatine?"

"That question is a good question to ask," Bail asked, "and I wish I had a concrete answer for it. It's something that I have both asked myself, and had some others ask me. The only answer that I can offer at the moment is that the purpose of the rebellion, when fully declared, will be to restore the Republic. There are a few other rebel cells out there," Bail began to explain, "and I know that some of the major ones are headed by former, or current, Republic senators."

"This whole rebellion thing," Jorec began, "sometimes I don't know what to think of it. It does sound interesting, to say the least. I can't make any commitments at moment, because I really need to discuss this with my family. Lia almost got killed once before because I decided to not to involve her in something," Jorec said, referring to the harrowing chase through the streets of Gevest the night he had told her that he was a Jedi. He had often thought about how things could have been different if he had told her from the start about his Jedi heritage from the beginning, and he had a lot of regrets about that period of their relationship.

"I understand completely," Bail Organa replied. "Speak about it with your family about it first, and even with Yoda if you wish to. If you do wish to join with us, you know how to contact me."

"We'll think about," Jorec responded.

"Now as for Yoda," Bail said as he handed Jorec a datapad, "you'll find him in this system."

Jorec looked at the location indicated on the datapad. It was an Outer Rim planet located relatively far from the Core Worlds and placed just off of the Rimma Trade Route. The name of the planet was completely unfamiliar to him, he had never heard of a planet named Dagobah in his life. "This is the location?" Jorec asked.

"Yes, it is," Bail answered.

"So, he actually wanted you to be a part of this rebellion that he's planning?" Lia asked as she handed Gavin over to Jorec. "What did you say?"

"I told him that you and I would have to talk about before I can concretely give a 'yes' or a 'no' to him," Jorec replied as he shifted his son in his arms. "I'm kind of leaning towards 'yes' at the moment, but that can easily change. At the moment, I really don't have any desire to leave the both of you."

"I don't know much about it either; based on what you've told me," Lia said. "We will have to talk about it later. Did you get the location of this Master Y--, what is his name again? It's something kind of weird."

"Yoda," Jorec supplied. "And yes, he did give me his location, as well as a droid to pilot us to and from the planet. I don't think he trusts Rinoco with such sensitive information."

"What about our little 'side trip?'" Lia asked.

"I had him send out the messages. It's out of our hands now."


	34. Chapter 33

Chapter 33 

Night had fallen on some virtually unknown Mid-Rim planet; the artificial lighting provided the street lamps cast a strange glow upon the scene. The nearly empty streets still smelled of the rain that had just fallen nearly three hours previously and a slight dampness of humidity could be tasted in the air. The sound of a band playing in a nearby club could be heard through the walls. A few of the club's patrons were outside of the establishment, their conversations intermittently halted by the puff of a cigara. It was in this unlikely location that two families met for the first time.

_I hate to think about it, but this is a bucket of fuel just waiting to explode_, Jorec thought as he witnessed the two families meet each other from his hiding place. He was dressed in civilian clothing appropriate to the area: a simple blue shirt emblazoned with the logo of the band that was playing in the club and pants that matched the color of the shirt. A jacket kept him warm, as well as serving for a perfect hiding place for his lightsaber as well as a holdout blaster pistol. There was an extremely minimal Imperial presence on this planet, but that still didn't stop him from being well prepared. After all, he had said only a few days ago that paranoia was sometimes completely warranted.

"Rinoco, they're here," Jorec reported to his Xexto friend through a comlink. "I don't see anyone else out of the ordinary in the area, but if I haven't contacted you in some way in the next 20 minutes, follow through with the contingency. Take Lia and Gavin away to a safe place."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Rinoco replied.

"Me neither," Jorec added as he closed the connection. He placed the comlink back in his pocket and began walking towards the two families, who were now conversing about something. "I'm sure that all of you have been wanting to see me for a long time," he said as he came within four meters of the group. The younger couple looked up at him first, a look of surprise in their eyes. A look of surprise that was soon followed by tears.

"Jorec," the Jedi's mother whispered, her words barely audible, "is that really you?"

You--you--" Lia's father began to say as he saw another man that he believed was unworthy of marrying his daughter. The man that, in his opinion, had used his Jedi powers to force his daughter into the relationship.

"I know what you're thinking," Jorec replied to Lia's father, "and I'll have a good talk with you later. Before the big argument begins, let me have this moment with my own parents," Jorec said before embracing his mother.

"We thought you were dead for so long," Jorec's father said as he patted his son on the back. "When we saw the Temple burning we all but lost hope. I'm glad that you weren't in that place like we originally thought."

"From what I've heard, I'm glad that I wasn't in there as well," Jorec replied, remembering the stories that Senator Organa had told him about Obi-Wan and Yoda's trip inside of the Temple.

"Where's my daughter?" Lia's father asked a second later.

"Yes, where is our daughter-in-law and our grandchild?" Jorec's mother echoed.

"Lia and Gavin are in a safe place," Jorec replied. "I'll take you to see them soon." Jorec's explanation seemed to appease Lia's father, who relaxed.

"So they're fine?" Lia's mother finally spoke up, leading Jorec to nod his head.

"Yes, they're perfectly healthy. In fact, let's go see them now," Jorec said as he pulled out his comlink. "Rinoco, I'm heading up there," he spoke into the comlink.

"Who's Rinoco?" Lia's father asked. "Is he trustworthy?"

"He's one of the few people I trust with my life," Jorec replied. "He's the one who helped me escape from Imperial custody."

"You're going to have to explain that to us, and why you didn't tell us at first," Jorec's mother chimed in.

"I'm sorry about that," the Jedi replied. "We can talk about that later."

"You left my daughter and grandson in the care of an _alien!_" Lia's father exclaimed as Rinoco opened the door of the hotel room that served as a safe house.

"Yeah, so?" Jorec asked, partially disgusted at his father-in-law's speciest attitude. "He's saved both of our lives before."

Rinoco sneered at Lia's father as he entered the hotel room before giving a polite smile to the other four people as they entered.

"Is this where you three live?" Jorec's mother asked as she looked around the sparse hotel room.

"For the past few days, yes," Jorec replied. "It's by no means permanent, but we can't tell you where we've been and where we're headed after this."

"We understand," Jorec's father said, "I think…"

"You mean this could be the last time we see our daughter?" Lia's father exclaimed. "And the only time we actually see our grandchild?"

"You know, they do have to have their secrecy. After all, our daughter's husband _is _a Jedi and they were involved in one of the biggest local news stories since the Clone Wars," Lia's mother said as she broke her silence. In the months since Jorec and Lia's escape from Gevest, the perilous ride from the apartment complex to the rundown spaceport had been plastered across the planet.

"Of course he's a Jedi," Lia's father attempted to explain to his wife, "and look what his kind has done."

As the argument between Lia's parents about whether or not Jorec was a suitable husband for their daughter continued, Jorec's family quietly slipped past them and towards their son and his family. Jorec's mother sat down on a chair opposite of the bed that her son and daughter-and-law were sitting on, and accepted the infant that her husband handed to her. She held her grandson for a while, before shifting her focus. "Jorec," she began to ask, "is Gavin Jedi material like you?" she said, the word 'Force-sensitive' slipping her mind.

Jorec and Lia nodded at the question. "Don't worry," Lia said. "Not that many people actually know about it."

"And we can absolutely trust those that do," Jorec added to his wife's comment. "You don't really need to worry about us. We'll be fine."

"It's a little hard not to," Jorec's father stated. "We think you're dead for ten years, and now we found out that you were captured by the Empire. What exactly happened?"

Jorec then noticed that Lia's parents had stopped their short argument and now stood a short distance away, eager to hear this untold portion of their son-in-law's life. "I think it began about a week before the actual capture. Under the guise of sightseeing and hunting, some rebel leaders had hired me. Probably to scout out the area," Jorec guessed. "I had no idea they were rebels, I just assumed that they were a little eccentric."

"The Imperials would later capture the group of rebels that those two came from," Rinoco explained, adding his experiences to the story. "They must have figured out from one of my compatriots about the last known location of our two leaders."

"They eventually found their way to me. To tell the truth, I really don't know how. I was ambushed in my apartment by Stormtroopers one morning," Jorec said, saddened by the look of shock and horror on the faces of his parents. They apparently wanted to capture me alive, and that's what they did. They managed to stun me after I was able to kill two or three of them. I was later placed on this prison ship," he said, skipping the 'unneeded' portion of his captivity; a portion that he himself disliked to visit. "The ship eventually crashed, and Rinoco and I were one of the few survivors of the ship. There were a few Stormtroopers that had survived, but we were able to either evade them or defeat them in combat," Jorec stated. "I'm just thankful that the crash happened and Rinoco and I survived."

"What were the Stormtroopers going to do with you?" his father asked.

"I think they were trying to get me to turn evil," Jorec surmised, simplifying a major portion of Force philosophy to those he was speaking to. He continued to relate the story to the four people in the room that hadn't heard the true version of the events that had happened, pausing only to put his son to bed and sometimes backtracking to relate other bits of info.

"So, the Empire tried to kill my daughter with no provocation at all?" Lia's father quietly asked Jorec as the realization finally dawned on him. "And the Jedi didn't try to bomb Gevest at the outset of the Clone Wars?"

"No, we didn't," Jorec simply said, detesting that once again he had to relive and retell probably the most traumatic experiences of his life.

"But the official reports--"

"The official reports were wrong, father," Lia interrupted.

"But why would the Clone Troopers turn on the Jedi if they weren't up to something?"

"I'm sure you heard about the assassination attempt on then Chancellor Palpatine; it was one of the reasons the Palpatine declared the Empire, wasn't it?" Jorec asked. "According to the public information that was released, about three or four Jedi Masters entered that office. None of them left alive… The Emperor is a Sith Lord, an evil Force-user. There's no other explanation. From what I've heard and learned, the Sith have always tried to destroy the Jedi. It looks like this time they succeeded, at least for the time."

The information was nearly too much for Lia's father to register. He had believed the official reports when they told of the treachery of the Jedi, and he had been a staunch supporter of the Empire ever since the Republic had been reorganized into it. The destruction that Gevest and the rest of Selvernos had seen during the long battle had put a load of doubt concerning the Republic's bureaucratic tendencies. Part of him wanted to immediately dismiss the whole multi-hour story that had been told to him; wanted to rely on the stereotypes and propaganda that he had been fed for the past years. After all, he and his wife were probably the only sane people in this room; everyone else was under the thrall of the Jedi.

Yet, common sense eventually prevailed in his mind. "You're all telling the truth, aren't you?" he asked.

Jorec nodded his head and uttered a simple "yep" before standing up. He stretched his legs and walked over to his sleeping son. It was hard to hold back some of the information from both his and Lia's parents, yet there were certain pieces of information that he could not reveal to them, a result of the sources that he had gotten most of the information from to begin with. "Although I wish I was lying about a lot of things…"

"It's getting late," Lia said as she glanced up at the small chronometer hanging up on the wall, "and Gavin's already asleep. We can continue this little conversation tomorrow."

"Do you already have lodging?" Jorec asked. "Because if you don't, there are two vacant rooms next to this one."

"We already have a place to stay," Jorec's father said as he stood up and hugged his son. "It's good to actually see you again."

"It was good to actually see you for the first time," Jorec replied, directing the comment to both of his parents. "I wish that Calena could make it here. I had no idea that I had a sister until you told me."

"Well, she had to attend school," his mother explained. "We'll tell her you said 'hello' when we go back."

Jorec hugged his mother before allowing her to leave the hotel room. "I hope you aren't leaving so soon. Lia and I have at least three more days here until the lodging budget runs out."

"We're staying for a few more days; after all, we can't let this opportunity go to waste," she said.

"I'm glad we got to see you," Lia said. "And we're glad that you got to see your grandson."

"He's absolutely adorable," Jorec's mother replied. "See you tomorrow!" she said as she and her husband walked out of the hotel room, leaving only Lia, her parents, Jorec, and Rinoco as the only adults in the room.

"I know that you and I haven't always seen eye-to-eye," Jorec said to Lia's father. "I'm glad to see the ice is seemingly starting to break. I love your daughter; very much in fact. I know what you're going through when it comes to your faith in the Empire being shattered. My whole life was turned upside down once, too. And I really think that it was for the better. I'm not evil, I haven't mind tricked her into this relationship, and, most of all, I've loved and respected your daughter ever since I met her. I'd like to thank you for being so civil this evening, even to Rinoco."

"From what I've heard of aliens, he has acted rather nice," Lia's father conceded.

"Well, you've heard a lot of bad stuff about Jedi before. I happen to think that your first face-to-face meeting with one went rather well, didn't you?"

"I think it went very well," Lia's mother spoke up, causing her husband to begrudgingly agree with her.

"I have to admit, a lot of the information I've heard about Jedi seems to be wrong, at the moment."

"In time, you may see that all of it is wrong," Jorec said. "Goodnight Mr. Garent, Mrs. Garent," he said as his in-laws moved past him to say goodnight to their daughter.

"I can't believe I actually saw them again," Jorec whispered. "Even though I barely know them, it still felt good to actually see them again."

"It was good for me to see my parents, too," Lia said, a hint of relief in her voice. "Especially after the last piece of communication that I received from them."

"Well, at least your father didn't disown you. And he seems to at least accept me," Jorec replied. "That seems to be a great improvement."

"I'm headed out, too," Rinoco said as he turned to leave the room. "What about security? You want me to tail any of them to make sure they don't run to tell any Stormies?"

"No, it's not going to be necessary," Jorec replied to his slightly jumpy friend. "I think everything's going to be fine."

"Alright," Rinoco said as he opened the door. "G'night, you two."

"Is something wrong?" Lia asked her husband after Rinoco left. "Was it about what you told them?

"Yeah, it was," Jorec said as he made sure that the door was locked. "Every time that I've had to retell that story I've had nightmares, as you can probably remember."

Lia remembered the various times she had been awakened by her husband's nightmares, and how they seemed to trouble him afterward. "Hopefully you won't have to deal with them for very longer."

"I certainly hope so," Jorec replied. "I certainly hope so."


	35. Chapter 34

Chapter 34 

"Mom, dad," Jorec said to his parents in the relative privacy of his hotel room, "there's something I've been wondering for a long time."

"You want to know 'why,' don't you?" Jorec's father asked. Once he had seen the Jedi Temple burning, he had known that if his son was alive, that this question would be asked. He and his wife had had ten years to come up with a suitable answer to this question that might have never been asked, yet in all of this time he was unable to come up with an answer that would be suitable.

"Yeah," Jorec replied as he shifted his son's weight in his arms. "I just feel like I need to know."

"It was a difficult decision to make," Jorec's mother admitted. "One that took a good month to actually make."

"More like a month and a half," Jorec's father added. "We wanted to do the right thing, and we wanted to make sure that whatever we chose was in your best interests. In the end, we decided to let you go to the Jedi Temple for training."

"We did it because that's what we believed would be the best for you," Jorec's mother said. "It looks like we were wrong." A few droplets of tears that had formed in her eyes soon dropped down her cheeks.

"I wouldn't say that you were wrong," Jorec said as he motioned towards his son, who was in the middle of enjoying a bottle full of formula. "Sure some bad things have happened, but, as you can see, a lot of good things have happened as well. There were a lot of good people in the Temple that I had considered my friends," Jorec added. _Friends that are more than likely dead by now,_ Jorec sadly thought. _At least _I'm _still alive, though. _"It also led me to meeting and falling in love with a very beautiful and kind woman, and this completely adorable thing I have in my arms right now," he added, referring to his son. "I don't think you were wrong at all. You didn't know about what Palpatine was planning to do with the Republic and the Jedi Order; I doubt anyone save those involved in his schemes did know."

"Why didn't you tell us you were alive sooner then?" Jorec's mother asked. "Why have us worry and think you were dead for ten years?"

Jorec knew that this question would have to have come up eventually, yet he was still caught off guard by it. "I--I don't know," he finally admitted after about a minute of thinking. "I really don't. I guess it was because for the longest time I was so frightened about what people would do if they found out that I was a Jedi, even what you would do. Those that found out were clued in on accident. Even Lia didn't know I was a Jedi until after I escaped from Imperial custody."

"We wouldn't have turned you in, you didn't have to think that," Jorec's father replied.

"Tell that to a frightened and traumatized kid," Jorec answered. "Besides, after watching a group of highly obedient clone soldiers turn on you, it was kind of hard to know who exactly _to_ trust. In a way, it still is, but for obviously different reasons."

"I can only imagine how that must feel like," his mother chimed in. "How did you decide to actually begin to trust people?"

"I had to decide whether or not I was going to live a life in which I was alone or a life in which I wasn't. The choice was obviously simple."

The sound of something at the door startled Jorec's parents, causing them to think of what evil things could be attempting to get into the apartment. In their heads they imagined the blank white helmets of Imperial Stormtroopers waiting behind the door, or perhaps the black armored figure of the menacing Darth Vader was ready to make his horrific entrance. They quickly glanced back at Jorec only to find their son quietly walking around the room with Gavin's head leaning against his shoulder.

"Don't worry," Jorec said as his parents looked on in horror, "it's just Lia coming back with breakfast. Open the door and help, I'm a little busy at the moment."

"Sorry, forgot about her leaving," Jorec's father said. "And you said you were paranoid."

"Hello everyone! I brought breakfast," Lia exclaimed as Jorec's father opened the door for her. A quick yet simple gesture from Jorec caused her to quickly apologize. "Sorry," she whispered as she noticed her son sleeping on his father's shoulder. "Didn't realize he was asleep." She was carrying a small bag, the contents of which were emitting a pleasing odor to the hungry occupants of the hotel room.

"Here you go," she said as she handed a wrapped sandwich to her husband after he placed his snoozing son into the crib.

"Thanks," he said as he accepted his sandwich. Lia sat down on the bed.

"So, what were you three talking about while I made the breakfast run?" Lia asked as her husband sat down next to her.

"We were just getting to know each other better," Jorec's mother answered. "Jorec was telling us a little bit more about himself, why he decided to actually begin to trust people."

"You know, it's pretty odd when you have to tell your parents about your early life," Jorec remarked. "Where exactly were we?"

"Mainly about you attempting to adjust to a new life," his mother answered.

"Yeah," Jorec said as he began to think of a place to restart. "It was hard to do at the beginning, and in a way I'm still adjusting to it. Meeting your parents for the first time when you're a parent yourself is something that I'm sure very few people go through. And at the time, I had to create this entire backstory to my life."

"He initially told me that you were dead," Lia spoke to Jorec's father, "murdered by a trusted family friend."

"I took things that had actually happened to me and kind of normalized them," Jorec explained. "No offense was meant when I took Master Fionst's death and superimposed your image over it. I had to have some reason to explain how I was so traumatized by something. I made sure that everything that I had said contained elements of the truth, so I wouldn't be outright lying. Even so, I detested having to tell half-truths to those I cared about. It was unfortunately one of the things that I had to do."

"It's okay," Lia said as she placed her arm around her husband. "I think we all understand why you had to lie about certain things. Don't keep worrying about it."

"Sorry about that," Jorec said. "So, how have you enjoyed your little 'vacation' so far?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

"We got to see you, that's the important thing," Jorec's mother replied. "It's something we've wanted to do ever since we received that message stating that you were alive. I just wish that you could have seen more of your parents, Lia."

"They couldn't make as much time to stay here as you could," Lia explained her parents' departure from the planet two days previously. There were on the planet for three days as opposed to the week that Jorec's parents had stayed. Despite the somewhat warm reception that she and her husband had received from her parents, she could still sense a sliver of distrust in her father's voice. Maybe one day her father could be more approving of the choices that she had made in her life, although it was obvious that that day would eventually come about. At least he hadn't called a local Stormtrooper garrison on them. "It was really good to meet you," she said to her in-laws. "I hate to see you go so soon."

"A whole month wouldn't have been enough time in my opinion," Jorec added. "Do you need a ride to the spaceport?"

"No, we can call an aircab from our hotel," Jorec's father replied. "Thanks for actually allowing us to be here, it really meant a lot to us."

"I can say the same thing from my position," Jorec said as he hugged his father goodbye. "Tell Calena hello for me," he said as he hugged his mother.

"We will," Jorec's mother answered. "I hope we get to see you, Lia, and little Gavin again."

"I hope that one day you will," Jorec replied.

_Two goodbyes in almost as many hours,_ Jorec thought as he took a knee on the floor, bringing him face-to-face with the 1.2 meter tall Rinoco. _Not good._

"I hate to leave you on this planet, Rinoco, it just seems too much like we're exiling you to this place," Jorec said.

"It's fine," Rinoco replied. "Remember how you got that ship that piloting droid is going to fly in the first place."

"As a Jedi, sworn to be a guardian of peace and justice, I don't want to remember," Jorec quipped. "Just try not to kill any innocent person for a ship, all right."

Rinoco nodded.

"And don't rob them either," Jorec added, noticing Rinoco's expression go sour. "If you have to steal a ship, make sure it's from some thieving spice smuggler or from someone like that."

"Looks like I'm on this planet for a little while longer than," the Xexto replied. "Thanks for freeing me from the Empire, by the way."

"You were the one that flew us out of there," Jorec said to his friend, "I couldn't fly a ship if my life depended on it."

"And I couldn't kill as many Stormtroopers as you did while we were shooting our way out of there, so I guess we're even."

"No," Jorec replied, "we're not. I don't know how many shots that poor speeder of Lia's could have taken before it would have exploded," Jorec said, bringing to mind the frantic chase that had happened on the dark streets of Gevest nearly a year previously. "By destroying that military speeder with one of the _Dream's_ guns, you saved the lives of Lia and Gavin."

"I don't think we could ever even that score," Lia added as she too kneeled to face the Xexto. "Thank you Rinoco, you've been a good friend to us."

"Both of you have been real good friends as well. Although it's a shame I'll never get to meet that Yodda guy you both keep talking about, I can understand the reasoning that Senator Organa gave for me to not accompany you two."

"Where you headed to now?" Jorec asked.

"Even though my particular cell of this rebellion was wiped out, there are plenty more of them out there just waiting for a sharp-shooting, computer slicin' alien like me."

"Why not go back to Alderaan? I've heard that there are a couple of good cells located out of there," Jorec suggested.

"I might do that. It's been nice knowing you three," Rinoco said as he shook Jorec's hand and then gave a friendly hug to Lia. "Well, I suppose I better go and try to find me some way to get off of this planet."

"Goodbye Rinoco," Jorec said.

"Goodbye!" Lia echoed as the Xexto walked out of the room.

"Well, I guess it's time check out and head to our new destination," Jorec said as he stood up. He offered his hands to his wife, who accepted them before being helped up.

"One day, I hope we'll be able to actually _stay_ somewhere," Lia said. "Keep friends, be able to tell our families where we're going without fear of being eavesdropped on."

"You don't know how many times I've wished for that to happen," Jorec sadly replied, "both before and after we met. I can only hope that it happens before Gavin grows up; it would be a pity if he had to live his entire life on the run. We'll make it through this, though," Jorec said as he pulled his wife closer to him.


	36. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

"We are to be exiting hyperspace soon," the red-colored 3PO droid reported in her slightly prim voice. "It would be best if you secured yourselves and the child properly within the next five minutes."

"Thanks TeeThree," Lia responded before she leaned over in her crash webbing to inspect Gavin's infant safety seat. Seeing that the baby was perfectly secure in the seat, she turned to her husband. She found him slumped in his crash webbing, fast asleep. "Jorec, wake up. We're almost there."

Jorec yawned as he opened his eyes. He blinked several times to clear the sleep from his eyes. "How long?" Jorec asked.

"We shall be arriving on the planet in four minutes, Master Jorec," TeeThree replied. "Landing shall take approximately twel--"

"That's good enough," Jorec said.

"So, you haven't told me a lot about this Yoda," Lia said. "Have you been keeping secrets from me?"

"No," Jorec chuckled. "It's just that I doubt that you'd believe me after you took one look at him." Master Yoda's diminutive stature had more than likely fooled quite a bit of opponents into misjudging the power of the Jedi Master, and Jorec had little doubt that his wife would be fooled. Jorec himself had been fooled once, and having to give two weeks of dessert to a Twi'lek youngling was his punishment.

"Sure I would," Lia said.

"He's very wise," Jorec began. "Stories of his wisdom and his past experiences were held in the same regards as Odan-Urr."

Odan-Urr?" Lia asked, confused over this piece of Jedi lore that the general public held obscure. It was a piece of information that was once used as the million credit question on a game show before the rise of the Empire.

"He was a Draethos Jedi Master right before the beginning of the Sith War," Jorec explained. "He was also know for his wisdom, and even had a collection of his meditations on the Force."

A few minutes later, the blue hyperspace lanes revert into stars, and a giant planet appeared through the main viewport. At first glance, the planet appeared to be completely void of any settlements, there were no mass concentrations of bright lights that denoted cities. A closer examination by both Jorec and Lia revealed the exact same thing. At first, Jorec's mind began to spin with the thoughts that he, his wife, and his child had been betrayed by Bail Organa, the politician having sent them to an abandoned planet. It was then that he closed his eyes and realized the truth. Yoda was on that planet, and it was a subtle feeling that alerted him to that.

"He's there all right," Jorec said, putting Lia's fears of betrayal to rest as well. "Don't ask me how I know, I just do."

"There's no cities though, what if Gavin gets injured?" Lia asked. "We need additional supplies as well."

"I'd like you to know Mistress Lia," TeeThree piped in. "I have been programmed in emergency medicine as well as basic infant and toddler care. If there any supplies that you may need, I would be most happy to make a few extra supply runs."

"It looks like it's all swamp," Jorec commented on the planet as the droid began the landing cycle.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Lia sighed.

"Don't worry so much," Jorec replied, trying to reassure her, despite feeling a sense of uneasiness in the pit of his stomach that he hoped all parents felt. "I'm sure that nothing bad is going to happen on this planet."

Despite Jorec's best attempts to reassure both his wife and himself, the view of the main viewport was less that helpful. As the ship began to lower itself to the ground, limbs from tall trees brushed against the right side of the viewport. The sounds of the large cargo hold of the _Wayfarer_-class transport ripping heavy branches from the trees could barely be heard from Jorec's position, but the Jedi knew that outside of the ship the sounds must have been near deafening.

The view was also obscured by a moderately thick fog that rose off of the swampy ground, a fog that occasionally gave the occupants of the transport a vision of leathery flying creatures outside. The sensation of a less than routine landing, the sounds that could be heard outside of the ship, and the relative newness of space travel soon became too much for Gavin to bear. The well-situated infant soon began to let out frightened wails and began flailing his tiny arms and legs, hoping to get this frightening experience to stop.

Jorec and Lia both turned their heads to look at their son, and simultaneously reached their hands towards him. Lia took hold of Gavin's left hand, her fingers closing around the flailing fist and easily stopping it from moving. Jorec moved his hand over his son's head, caressing the brown hair. Both parents softly spoke soothing words in an attempt to settle their son down.

"It's okay, Gavin," Jorec spoke. "It's almost over, and we're all going to be just fine."

"Mama's here, don't worry," Lia added. "No need to be scared."

Seemingly sensing the presence of his parents and being comforted by them, Gavin's fit ended just before the ship set down.

The area in which the _Dancer's Dream_ had landed was soft under Lia's shoes as she ventured out of the ship, the native plant life crunching underneath her feet as she walked around. Jorec had gone on ahead of her, and she could hear him rustling through some tall grass west of her position. A tiny rodent-like creature ventured out of its hiding place. The creature froze upon seeing Lia and soon fled back into the underbrush that it had came from.

The calls of various other wildlife filled the air as the only two adult humans on the planet of Dagobah explored their immediate surroundings. "Where is this Yoda, anyway?" Lia asked. "TeeThree said that he was around this area."

"Within one or two kilometers, she said."

"You'd think with the noise we made landing on the planet, he'd be nearby," Lia said.

"For all we know, he may be watching us right now," Jorec replied. "Trying to see if we're trustworthy or not. Either that or we're supposed to go to him…"

Lia walked a few more meters before seeing the thing. As she brushed a few vines out of her field of vision she found herself face-to-face with a green-colored alien. He was standing on a tall stump, seemingly watching everything that had been happening near the ship. The alien was less than a meter tall, with thinning strips of gray hair hanging from his head. Long ears also dominated his features. "What brings you here?" the alien spoke in what Lia heard as a gruff voice. Startled by the alien's sudden appearance and it speaking to her, Lia took several quick steps backward. She felt her legs hit an upraised tree root that she had previously stepped over, sending her falling towards the ground. She landed in a pile of grass and some soft mud.

Hearing his wife scream, Jorec raced to her location, expecting to find her the victim of some kind of poisonous animal. If that was the case, he had to get her inside of the ship and into the medical care of T-3PO. It was to his thankful relief that he found her sitting up, covered in mud, yet otherwise perfectly all right. He offered her a hand and helped her get back to her feet. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Did you trip on something?"

"This alien startled me and I fell over a tree root," Lia explained pointing towards the green figure that was looking at the couple.

"What alien?" Jorec asked before actually seeing it. "Master Yoda," he said before executing a short bow to the exiled Jedi Master.

"Know me you do?" Yoda asked, not entirely sure on who these two were and why they had come to his planet. He had to admit that the man did look somewhat familiar, and his Force-sensitivity was obvious.

"You may not remember me, Master Yoda," Jorec began, "you weren't the primary teacher for my clan. I'm Jorec Merridon, a fellow survivor. This is my wife, Lia," he added, preparing for the possible scolding that would follow. Jorec had always known Yoda to be an extreme stickler to the rules of a Jedi, and even with the Jedi Order all but extinct for ten years, Jorec assumed that Yoda would have expected the surviving Jedi to still follow the rules and regulations of the Jedi Order.

Yoda paused for a few seconds, trying to remember the youngling version of the now grown man standing next to him. "Remember you I do," Yoda finally said. The aged Jedi Master jumped off of the stump that he had been standing on, and began walking off into the distance. "To meet you, pleased I am," he said to Lia, who was busy attempting to clear some of mud off of her. "For startling you forgive me," he added.

"It's fine," Lia replied. "We're going to have to make a stop at the ship to pick up Gavin from TeeThree," she told Yoda.

"The other Force-sensitive on the planet?" Yoda asked. "Your son he is?"

"Yes he is," Lia replied.

"Sent you here, who did?" Yoda asked. "And for what reason?"

"It was Bail Organa, Master Yoda," Jorec answered. "I've come here to continue with my training."

"Why?" Yoda simply asked as Lia entered the ship to both clean up from her spill and retrieve Gavin.

"For them, mostly," Jorec said as he watched his wife leave. "I want to be able to protect them in case the Empire ever comes looking for us again. I want to be able to make sure that my son grows up in a galaxy in which he isn't hunted down because he is Force-sensitive. And there are others that need protection from the Empire," Jorec added, hoping not to sound too greedy.

"Protect them," Yoda said aloud. "For who? Yourself? Or for them?"

"For them, Master Yoda," Jorec answered, causing Yoda to pause. The Jedi Master meditated on this, seemingly peering into Jorec's mind.

Yoda had once heard something to this effect once before, although not quite so outwardly selfless. There had been grave consequences because of that meeting once before. "Sincere you are," he finally replied. "Slight amount of selfishness in your request there is, but nothing I would call dangerous. Circumstances you spoke of before," Yoda recalled. "What were they?"

"Over a year ago, I was captured by the Empire," Jorec replied. "They tortured me into confessing that I was a Jedi, and then they stuck me on this prison ship to stew for a while. They were trying to turn me to the Dark Side," Jorec added. "The ship I was on crashed, and it took me a while to return to my home. When I was there, Stormtroopers found me out once again and tried to kill both Lia and myself."

"Joined the Empire many of the survivors have," Yoda said as he shook his head slowly. "Some resisted I'm glad to see."

"Have you made a decision?" Jorec asked.

"Train you I will," Yoda replied. "Good practice it will be, eh?" Yoda said, laughing to himself.

_Good practice?_ Jorec thought as he leaned against one of the landing supports. _What's _that_ supposed to mean?_


	37. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Jorec's black hair, damp with sweat, stuck closely to his head as he raced through the swamps of Dagobah. With what some people would consider inhuman speed, he kept running despite the burning in his lungs and the tiredness of his legs. He had used the Force to enhance his speed in the past – even during the time he had lived a "normal life" on Selvernos – but never to the extent in which he was now. At the moment, he was going faster, farther, and longer than he had ever attempted before.

"Left! Turn left you must," Yoda instructed, changing the course. The nearly 900 year-old Jedi Master was perched in a customized backpack. With a tired nod, Jorec complied.

It was the fifth time that day that Jorec had reached this portion of the running course that Yoda had set up, and now Jorec doubted that he could pull of the stunt required of him one more time. He neared what be his vault, a small log that was just a meter high. Properly trained humanoids could easily clear this barrier, yet it was what lay beyond that he would have trouble with.

Jorec felt his boot connect with the moss-covered log, at the same time feeling the Force flow through his tired body. The hot and humid air blew into his face as he soared over the small lake. Jorec could see the dry ground begin rushing towards him as he reached the peak of his leap and mentally celebrated that he would actually complete his jump. He also hoped that this would be his final run-through of Yoda's course for that day.

He landed on the soft ground, nearly slipping as his left foot came extremely close to catching the soft mud that made up the edges of the lake, and continued on with the course. He finally came to a stop outside of Yoda's hut. Jorec did his best to wipe the sweat off of his forehead, yet only succeeded in adding more perspiration from his sleeve.

"Over you training is for the day," Yoda said after he jumped out of the backpack and began walking towards his small hut. "Progress you have made."

"Thank you Master Yoda," Jorec replied with a bow, taking Yoda's compliment with honor.

"Tough day?" Lia asked as she heard her husband struggled to remain standing as he entered the transport. At the moment, however, her attention was mainly focused on her crying son. Tears were in Gavin's eyes as the small child did his best to deal with the pain of the situation. Lia did her best to try and get her son to bite down on an apparatus designed to help infants with the teething process.

"An understatement," Jorec replied as he limped into the ship's lounge. "I don't want to even think about how many kilometers I ran today." He walked up to his wife and son and began watching as Lia continued to attempt to help Gavin. "How's he doing?" Jorec asked, concerned over his son's status at the moment.

"The development holobook we have says that this is normal," Lia answered as she gestured towards the datapad on a nearby desk. "Yet I can't help but worry."

"I'm pretty sure that he'll be fine," Jorec said, doing his best to reassure his wife. It was obvious that neither of them had any previous experience with caring for infants before. Lia had been an only child to an only child, and thus had no younger siblings or other family members to "practice" with; and Jorec being a Jedi, had no one to help with either. The only experience that Jorec had with managing small children previously was he being responsible for a group of 7-10 year-olds during the Battle of Coruscant. That guard duty had lasted about an hour, and the highly disciplined group of younglings didn't require much attention. Parenting, however, was an altogether different process.

"Yeah, he will," Lia conceded. "He hasn't gone through anything abnormal yet."

"That's the last thing we'd need," Jorec added, "our son performing a very public display of his Force-

sensitivity."

"With the Force, things you will see," Yoda instructed, his voice sounded wavy and ethereal as Jorec did his best to follow through on this new lesson. "Open to you is the past, the present, and the future."

Sensing the future had happened sporadically in Jorec's life, yet the visions had always been slightly vague and warned him of dangers that were sometimes years in the future. At the moment, Yoda was trying to train him in fine-tuning this ability.

"See anything do you? Sense anything?"

"It's hazy at the moment," Jorec reported, "but I can see something."

What he could see was the view of four lightsabers – one blue, one green, and two red-- moving in darkness. After a few seconds of viewing the "good" lightsabers, the weapons' wielders eventually came into view. There were two of them: a man and a woman, both of whom were in their mid-twenties. The man had short brown hair and something about him felt familiar in the Force, and the blonde woman next to him seemed connected to him somehow.

"Gavin," Jorec blurted out as he finally recognized the male in his vision. "I see my son. He's grown—older than me—but it's him…"

The two Jedi raised their blades against the wielder of the red lightsabers, doing their best to fend off their attacker. "They're fighting someone," Jorec reported, "don't know who." A small amount of blood fell upon the floor as the unknown assailant managed to score a hit on Jorec's son. The shock and worry of seeing his son wounded, even over 30 years in the future, caused Jorec to snap out of the meditative trance that he was in.

"What did you see?" Yoda simply asked, his voice slightly betraying concern.

"Gavin and someone else were fighting something," Jorec said, doing his best to explain. "I couldn't see what it was, but Gavin was slightly wounded in the battle." Jorec watched as Yoda nodded; the almost deceptively powerful Jedi Master stood still for a moment.

"Yes, see something you did," Yoda finally replied. "Dwell on it do not," Yoda warned, "for always in--"

"Motion the future is," Jorec finished Yoda's warning. "I won't dwell on it. A lot can happen in thirty years." That comment earned another nod from Yoda, who knew all too well what could change with time.

Of all the skills that Jedi were taught, sensing the future was one of the most dangerous. That was a fact that Yoda knew very well. The man who would become Darth Vader had come to him before the rise of the Empire, complaining about visions of death—death in which he would be responsible for. In Yoda's mind, Anakin had probably fallen in an attempt to prevent those visions from coming true. He wasn't the first, and Yoda knew that Anakin wouldn't be the last.

In this case; a Jedi who had barely been a Padawan when the Emperor had sprung his far-reaching trap, one who had seen and been through a lot in his short life, and one who had a wife and newborn child, there were obviously some risks in teaching Jorec how to sense the future.

"Serious I am," Yoda scolded. "In these dark times careful all Jedi must be. Many of us left there aren't, and many are those opposed to us. Need another member they do not," he warned.

"I—I didn't mean to imply that I wasn't taking your warning seriously, Master Yoda," Jorec stammered, doing his best to apologize. "I can imagine that there is a lot of danger that comes from misinterpreting visions."

"No apologies needed," Yoda replied. "And danger there is. A helpful tool visions are, but a tool for both sides."

"I understand," Jorec said.

Yoda walked with the aid of his cane towards the edge of a tree, the legs of his weathered Jedi tunic lightly brushing against the ground. "As said before; strong the Dark Side is at these times. Tell me: what are the emotions considered of the Dark Side?"

"Anger, hatred, fear, jealousy," Jorec recited, easily remembering one of the first lessons that younglings in the Jedi Temple learned.

Yoda nodded at his pupil's easy recitation of the core piece of Jedi dogma. "Good, good. Why considered dark they are?" Yoda asked.

"They're negative emotions of a sentient mind," Jorec answered. "The Dark Side feeds off of these negative emotions just as the Light Side gains power through positive emotions," Jorec said, reciting a theory learned in a philosophy class.

"Now, since the betrayal, experienced these negative emotions have you?"

Yoda's question gave Jorec a reason to pause. In the years before his capture he had indeed experienced the negative emotions that the Dark Side seemingly thrived on.

"Examples give me," Yoda said, sensing the hesitation to reply. "Anger."

"At the beginning I was angry at a lot of things," Jorec admitted. I was angry at myself for not doing anything better to help the other Jedi, I was angry at the clones for betraying me, and I was angry at Master Fionst for not surviving."

"Hatred," Yoda said, naming off another emotion.

"The Empire," Jorec simply replied. "At least I used to."

"Jealousy."

Jealousy; an emotion that Yoda and the other Jedi Masters had likened to greed, a vice that was heavily looked down upon by the Order. It was an emotion that Jorec realized that he still carried.

"I'm jealous of all the 'normal' families that I've seen," Jorec admitted. "Families that don't have to worry about being discovered by the Empire; families that don't fear a simple knock on the door…I'm afraid that at any moment I'll be discovered again, only this time my family won't be so lucky. I guess that answers the next question as well," Jorec added.

"Ever acted out of these negative emotions?" Yoda asked.

"Not that I know of," Jorec answered. "I did come close a few times, though."

"What learned have you today?" Yoda asked.

"The Dark Side is prevalent today and, as Jedi, we must do our best to steer clear from it. It's an easy path, one that almost everyone has at least taken a step on in his or her life. It's even easier today to fall than it was ten years ago."

"Remember, Jorec, hard the life of a Jedi is, especially one in your position," Yoda added. "Learned I have that love isn't the great evil that we thought it was, yet still caution must be taken."

"I know, Master Yoda, I've faced a situation like this before," Jorec replied. "Both Lia and I were in grave danger when we were forced to flee from Selvernos. I had to fight my way out of an apartment building with Lia by my side, and there was no Dark Side influence on me then."

"A formidable test it must have been," Yoda added.

"Now that I know of these close calls with the Dark Side what do I do about it?" Jorec asked.

"Learn from them," Yoda instructed. "Steer clear of the Dark Side, or bring ruin to all you have accomplished you will."

"I will learn from those experiences, and I won't fall," Jorec assured Yoda. "But there's something I've been wondering," Jorec added. "Why did Anakin fall? Do you know?"

"Pieced together the bits and pieces of information I have," Yoda said, doing his best to arrange the story in his mind to take out all of the bits and pieces regarding the young Luke and Leia. "Tell you tomorrow I will," Yoda finally said, knowing that twelve hours would be more than sufficient to tell a believable enough cover story without having to fully lie. "A long story it is, and brush up on the details I must."


	38. Chapter 37

Chapter 37 

A thick fog covered the ground of Dagobah, forcing Yoda to use the Force as a guide as he walked through the swamps. His gimer stick cane sunk slightly in the soft ground as he walked, creating small holes in the ground. His destination wasn't that far off—the _Wayfarer_-class transport that had brought his new student and his family to this planet. He had meditated and communed with the Force spirits of Qui-Gon Jinn as well as the one who had kept a watch on him when he was a boy. With the help of the Force and the two deceased Jedi, he was finally able to know what to tell the Jedi. It was a story that more than likely wouldn't raise too many difficult questions, yet it would also answer the most important one: why?

Jorec had wanted to know why Anakin Skywalker had fallen to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader—why the one that was prophesized to destroy the Sith would actually end up all but destroying the Jedi. It was a question that would have to be answered truthfully, yet there were certain children that needed to be protected. Yes—Luke and Leia, Yoda thought as he neared the landed ship. The two children had to be ten years old at the moment, and Yoda wondered when Owen Lars would finally allow Obi-Wan to train the boy in the Jedi arts. Or maybe it would fall to himself? The Force wasn't letting on, that was for sure.

He was less than ten meters from the ship when the entrance ramp slowly slid out of the ship, carving a slight depression in the soft ground as it continued to descend. Out of the well-lit interior of the transport walked the red-plated protocol/pilot droid that had been given to the family. It stiffly walked out of the transport, seemingly afraid to step onto the ground out of fear of getting mud in his parts. "Greetings, Master Yoda," the droid said as he did a fairly decent approximation of a bow. In the back of his mind, Yoda had to wonder why Jorec and Lia had sent the droid to greet him instead of meeting him personally. The answer was soon revealed.

"TeeThree, I told you to just look out for him," Jorec scolded the droid as he walked down the ramp. "You didn't have to personally greet him." Jorec nodded to Master Yoda. "Good morning, Master Yoda. Come on in."

Yoda nodded his thanks and stepped up onto the ramp and made his way into ship, smelling non-humid air for the first time in years. The air inside of the ship was of an average temperature, a rare commodity on the swamp planet of Dagobah. It was a welcome change from the outside—not one that he would be content with on an everyday basis—but a good change nonetheless.

"I am terribly sorry, sir," the droid replied. "I will do my best to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

Jorec slowly walked from the now closing ramp, keeping pace with Yoda as the short Jedi Master walked along the hallway and into the main lounge of the vessel. Lia waved at Yoda as she sighted the Jedi. "Hello Master Yoda," she said. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you both," Yoda replied as he leapt up to take a seat on an empty couch, placing his cane next to the piece of furniture. Gavin looked at this new being from his resting-place, amazingly just like his father did to another member of Yoda's enigmatic species nearly 25 years previously. "A curious party we have?" Yoda asked, pointing to the infant.

"Looks like it," Lia said as she watched her son look at Yoda. "No offense, but I don't think he's seen anything like you before."

"Doubt that I don't," Yoda replied with what could have been a slight chuckle. "Asked before you did about how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. Ready to tell you now I am."

Jorec sat down next to his wife, more than ready to hear this story. Among the younglings in the Jedi Temple—himself included—Anakin Skywalker had been one of the most respected Knights that the Order had produced. Then, it turned out, for some reason Anakin had slaughtered the very Order that had revered him. Even the younglings didn't survive the slaughter…

"Started the day after the Battle of Coruscant ended," Yoda began, closing his eyes as if to picture it in his head. A briefing there was for the Outer Rim sieges, included Selvernos I think it did. I didn't attend, for counseling young Skywalker needed. Told me he did of a premonition he had. Visions he saw; visions of people he cared for dying." He paused, letting the information sink in for a few seconds. The telling of Anakin's fall wasn't supposed to just be a retelling of events of the past, it was instead intended to be a lesson as well.

"Hence the lecture a few days ago about being mindful about visions being just potential futures," Jorec stated, causing Yoda to give a short nod. "Is this how…"

"Telling it I am," Yoda reminded. "Visions of death he saw," Yoda continued. "Did my best I could to help him—in concordance with Jedi beliefs at the time. Told him I did that death was a natural part of life—that one should rejoice for those who have passed. Help him I obviously did not," Yoda regretfully said. "Chose his own path Anakin did, but stopped it could have been."

"Who was Anakin having these visions about?" Lia asked.

"A senator from Naboo. A Padmé Amidala. His wife she was."

Lia took a quick look at her husband. Hadn't he told her that attachment—especially romantic attachment—was forbidden for a Jedi?

"Though forbidden attachment was, spouses more than a few Jedi had," Yoda explained, hoping that he would spare the couple a potential argument. Solusar, Skywalker, Jinn, Halcyon: all of them had one time or another violated the Order's rules on non-attachment. And those were just the ones that Yoda knew about.

"Visions he had of her dying," Yoda repeated. "And disturbed by them he was. Sought council with me he did, and then council he sought with Chancellor Palpatine—Darth Sidious in disguise. Assume I do that Sidious lured Anakin into the Dark Side with promises of protection for Padmé," Yoda continued, deliberately making no mention of the unborn children that would become Luke and Leia. "Twisted by his lies and promises of power Anakin became, and when faced with a decision to either allow the Sith to be destroyed or to help him, choose poorly Anakin did. Entered the Chancellor's office four Jedi Masters did, leave only two Sith did. Know what truly happened in that room, I do not."

"I've heard a recording about what could have happened in there," Jorec said. "It's almost certainly doctored, but it's worth bringing up in my opinion. Mace Windu and the others attempted to arrest Palpatine for being a Sith Lord, Palpatine brought up that being a Sith Lord was protected under the Republic's religious freedoms and—according to the recording, the Jedi attacked first. I doubt that is what actually happened, however."

"Lies and treachery are the ways of the Sith," Yoda stated. "Easily convincing to already enthralled Senate, it more than likely was. Afterwards, ordered Vader and a legion of clones to the Jedi Temple Sidious did." Yoda's voice lowered and the wise Jedi Master lowered his head, having difficulty remembering what had happened next. "On Kashyyyk I was when the betrayal happened, and went to Coruscant soon afterward I did. Slaughter there was at the Jedi Temple. No one was spared, no one." Even though Jorec and Lia had heard of the slaughter of the younglings in the Temple, the implications and what seemed to be pain in Yoda's voice sent chills down their spines.

"Took it on myself to fight the Emperor I did," Yoda said. "And failed I did."

The mental image of Yoda fighting Darth Sidious—and losing, was of an epic battle somewhere. A meeting between what must have been one of the most powerful Force-users since the Reformation. Maybe of all time. It was an almost frightening thing to even conceive. "You failed against the Emperor?" Jorec asked, disbelief in his voice.

"Fought hard I did, but to kill the Emperor my destiny is not," Yoda replied.

"What happened to Anakin that forced him to wear that black suit?" Jorec asked. "Or is it just for intimidation purposes?"

"A battle was fought between Master and Apprentice on the banks of a lava river," Yoda explained, having seen the suited figure of Darth Vader in meditations. "Beat him Obi-Wan did, and grievously injured Vader was."

"Obi-Wan's alive as well?!" Jorec exclaimed. "How many others? Where is he?" a flurry of questions escaped Jorec's mouth.

"Alive Obi-Wan is, know of his location I do not," Yoda lied, determined to keep the identity and location of Luke a secret. "As for others, know not I do. Out there they are, where I know not."

"There's one thing I've been wondering," Lia said a few hours later—not long after Yoda had left. Gavin was bouncing on her knee, "chewing" on something rather soft, a small amount of drool running down his chin. "How powerful is this Yoda, and thus how powerful is this Emperor?" she asked. "You say that he's very powerful in the Force and very wise. I can see the wise part, but he's such a little guy. Are you sure that he's that powerful?"

"Do you remember those big droid landers that were on Selvernos?" Jorec asked, hoping that she had either seen the attack on her homeworld first-hand or had seen the droids landing on a Holonews program.

"I watched them through a telescope when they arrived," Lia replied. "What does that have to do with Master Yoda?"

"I heard from other Jedi—who heard it clone troopers—that he caused two of them to crash into each other on Coruscant."

Lia's mouth hung open. "Surely that has to be an exaggeration. Those things must have weighed tons!"

"He never denied it. Not to mention that there were two crashed landers relatively near the Jedi Temple with no signs of external damage on them—save from the crash."

"You're joking, aren't you?" Lia asked, not believing that anybody could do such a thing, not even a Jedi.

"I'm not," Jorec honestly replied. "I'm being completely honest! Even I used to believe that Yoda couldn't be as powerful as everyone said that he was. I was proven wrong."

"Yeah, but two landing craft?"

"Technically, he could have only moved one," Jorec admitted. "Crashed it into the other one." He demonstrated with his hands, the left hand's fingers colliding with the middle of his stationary right hand. "I wasn't there to see it, I was safe in some underground bunker guarding a group of younglings."

"I've changed my mind; after seeing all I've seen when it comes to Jedi and what they're able to do with the Force, I'm really not surprised that that could happen," Lia admitted.

Jorec grabbed his son, who had unknowingly fallen asleep while his parents debated on how powerful of a Jedi the strange looking visitor was. He fussed slightly after a peaceful nap had been disturbed, but soon settled down after a few soothing words from his father. With a small yawn, Gavin was soon resting again.

"I think he's still tired," Jorec said as he moved to place his son into a small crib. "I really don't blame him. Yoda's story takes a lot out of you."

"Even though I've heard it before," Lia began, her eyes betraying the image of a few tears ready to fall, "all those children…"

"It's harder when you actually knew some of the older children," Jorec spoke, his voice almost a whisper.

"I can imagine," Lia replied as her husband sat down next to her. He offered her his shoulder, which she gladly took. Jorec wrapped his arm around his wife and began to think. There was a lot of new information in which he had to process, along with the lesson that Yoda had decided to include in his telling of Anakin's fall. It was a lesson to be mindful of the Dark Side—to avoid its influences—to know that all visions weren't necessarily what they seemed to be, and that even someone who was attempting to prevent a vision from coming true could actually cause it to happen. Paved with good intentions the path to the Dark Side is, Yoda had said. Jorec would have to meditate on this later, but the now wasn't the time. And even though Lia had seemingly shut down her reaction to Yoda's vague reference to the youngling slaughter, Jorec could sense the fear and anxiety that she still felt.

He looked around the ship's lounge, and noted every intelligent thing that was currently in it: Gavin was sleeping soundly in his crib, Lia appeared to be either asleep or on the verge of it. Even TeeThree was powered down and standing in his recharging station. _Why the hell not?_ Jorec thought as he leaned his head back against the couch. _I could use the sleep anyway_.


End file.
